Trouble for Lucia

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Trouble for Lucia
Author E. F. Benson
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Comic novel
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date
1939
Preceded by Lucia's Progress  

Trouble for Lucia is a 1939 comic novel written by E.F. Benson. It is the sixth and final novel in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities.

Contents

In this novel, Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas is named Mayor of Tilling, an appointment that inflates her already elevated sense of self-importance. She appoints her rival Elizabeth Mapp as her mayoress, in the vain hope that this would blunt Mapp's constant schemes to undermine Lucia. Lucia makes a social blunder when she announces that as the Mayor, she will no longer play cards for money, and she is challenged when Mapp introduces a female novelist into their circle. Irene paints an unflattering portrait of Mapp and her husband, and the painting is chosen as Picture of the Year by the Royal Academy. Other incidents include Major Benjy losing his riding crop under mysterious circumstances, Lucia and Georgie taking up bicycling, and Lucia being criticized after boasting to her friends about a passing acquaintance with Poppy, duchess of Sheffield. [1]

Inspiration

Benson was elected Mayor of Rye in 1934, an honour that's reflected in Trouble for Lucia. Cynthia and Tony Reavell in E.F. Benson Remembered say that this is "an astonishing coincidence, because Lucia was about to become Mayor of Tilling in a new novel he had written but which hadn't yet been published." [2]

Reception

The Saturday Review gave the book a glowing review: "Mr. Benson's comic invention seemed to be wearing a little thin in The Worshipful Lucia, the previous and fifth link in the Lucia-Mapp saga, but he is at the top of his form in this one, turning off some uncommonly deft, gay, and full-bodied farcical writing." [3]

In Frivolity Unbound, Robert F. Kiernan expresses concern that Lucia is not as powerful a figure as she is in the previous novels. He writes, "Benson... apparently did not foresee that Trouble for Lucia would be the last volume of the sequence — the last novel, in fact, that he would write. Yet it is difficult to imagine what he might further have done with Lucia." [4]

Adaptation

In the 1985 television adaptation Mapp and Lucia , Lucia's Progress is used as the basis for the first three episodes of the second series; the final two episodes of the series are based on Trouble for Lucia.

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Miss Mapp is a 1922 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the second of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. This book introduces Miss Mapp, the social tyrant of the fictional coastal town of Tilling, and the cast of Tillingites, including Diva Plaistow, Major Benji Flint, Mr. and Mrs. Wyse, and Quaint Irene. Tilling was inspired by the town of Rye, where Benson lived at Lamb House, with his own commanding view of the High Street inspiring Mapp's domain, Mallards.

Lucia in London is a 1927 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the third of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. The second Lucia novel, it is a sequel to 1920's Queen Lucia. In this novel, Lucia leaves her small town of Riseholme and moves to London, where she attacks the city's social life with the same eager ferocity.

<i>Mapp and Lucia</i> 1931 novel by E. F. Benson

Mapp and Lucia is a 1931 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the fourth of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. It brings together two sets of characters from three previous Benson novels: Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, Georgie Pillson and Daisy Quantock from Queen Lucia (1920) and Lucia in London (1927), and Miss Elizabeth Mapp and her neighbours from Miss Mapp (1922).

<i>The Luck of the Vails</i> 1901 novel

The Luck of the Vails is a 1901 mystery crime novel by the British writer E.F. Benson, later better known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. It was one of only two ventures he made into the genre during his prolific career along with The Blotting Book (1908). In his autobiography Benson numbered it as one of only four of his novels he was satisfied with.

<i>Paying Guests</i> (novel) 1929 novel

Paying Guests is a 1929 comedy novel by the British writer E.F. Benson, best known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. The story takes place at Wentworth, a boarding house in the fictional resort town of Bolton Spa. It focuses on the eccentric collection of summer residents, mostly there to try and recover their health, overseen by the domineering former Indian Army Colonel Chase. It has been described as "The coming together of character and situation in Paying Guests creates a comic masterpiece, worthy to stand alongside the Mapp and Lucia books".

<i>Secret Lives</i> (novel) 1932 novel

Secret Lives is a 1932 comedy novel by the British writer E. F. Benson, best known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. The structure is broadly similar to that series, featuring two strong-willed women battling for social supremacy in the fictitious Durham Square in Edwardian London.

<i>The Inheritor</i> (novel) 1930 novel

The Inheritor is a 1930 mystery novel by the British writer E.F. Benson, best known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. Like his earlier 1901 novel The Luck of the Vails it revolves around a curse plaguing a wealthy family. While that had downplayed the supernatural elements in favour of a crime approach The Inheritor, one of his final works, was more ambiguous.

Lucia's Progress is a 1935 comic novel written by E.F. Benson. It is the fifth of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. It continues the story from the 1931 novel Mapp and Lucia, which brought Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas and Georgie Pillson from Queen Lucia (1920) and Lucia in London (1927) together with Miss Elizabeth Mapp and her neighbours from Miss Mapp (1922).

References

  1. Palmer, Geoffrey; Lloyd, Noel (1988). E.F. Benson, As He Was. Lennard Publishing. pp. 151–152. ISBN   978-1852910600 . Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  2. Reavell, Cynthia; Reavell, Tony (1991). E.F. Benson Remembered, and the World of Tilling. Headley Brothers Ltd. p. 21. ISBN   0-9506824-38 . Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  3. E.F.W. (10 February 1940). "The New Books: Trouble for Lucia". Saturday Review of Literature . 21 (16): 20. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  4. Kiernan, Robert F. (1990). Frivolity Unbound: Six Masters of the Camp Novel. Continuum Publishing. p. 91. ISBN   978-0826404657 . Retrieved 15 January 2024.