ISBN: 9781101912126

The third and fourth novels in the series, Lucia in London (1927) and Mapp and Lucia (1931) continue the adventures of Benson's famously irrepressible characters, and bring them into hila… Mehr…

The third and fourth novels in the series, Lucia in London (1927) and Mapp and Lucia (1931) continue the adventures of Benson's famously irrepressible characters, and bring them into hilarious conflict. The Nile on eBay   FREE SHIPPING UK WIDE   Lucia in London & Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson "Lucia in London was originally published in the United Kingdom by Hutchinson and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., in 1927"--Title page verso. FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description E. F. Benson's beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty snobberies and competitive maneuverings of English village society in the 1920s and 1930s.The third and fourth novels in the series, Lucia in London (1927) and Mapp and Lucia (1931) continue the adventures of Benson's famously irrepressible characters, and bring them into hilarious conflict. Both Mrs. Lucia Lucas and Miss Elizabeth Mapp are accustomed to complete social supremacy, and when one intrudes on the other's territory, war ensues. Lucia sees herself as a benevolent-if ruthless-dictator, while Miss Mapp is driven by an insatiable desire for vengeance against the presumptuous interloper. Their skirmishes-played out on a battlefield composed of dinner parties, council meetings, and art exhibits-enliven the plots of Benson's maliciously witty comedies. Author Biography E. F. BENSON was born in 1867 at Wellington College in Berkshire, England, where his father (who later became Archbishop of Canterbury) was the headmaster. Benson studied archaeology at Kings College, Cambridge and at the British School of Archaeology in Athens, where he came to know Lord Alfred Douglas and Oscar Wilde. After visiting Henry James in the village of Rye, Benson eventually settled there until his death in 1940; Rye was the model for Tilling, the setting of his six popular Mapp and Lucia novels. Benson published more than one hundred books on various subjects, but remains best known for Mapp and Lucia. Review "Benson's Lucia novels . . . are camp, sly, poisonous, piquant, stinging, clever, and as delightful as a glass of sweet sherry taken on a sun-dappled lawn." —The Telegraph (UK) "Entirely delightful. . . . Superbly ridiculous. . . . Benson constructs a comedy that is as exquisite, in its way, as anything in English humorous literature." —Auberon Waugh, The New York Times "These magic books . . . are as fresh as paint. The characters are real and therefore timeless." —Nancy Mitford, The Times (London)"Benson's cult novels are wicked, funny masterpieces—and thoroughly addictive. . . . Lucia, Georgie and Mapp are three of the very greatest characters in English fiction, and with them you can never go wrong." —Edward Gorey, Vogue Review Quote "Benson's Lucia novels . . . are camp, sly, poisonous, piquant, stinging, clever, and as delightful as a glass of sweet sherry taken on a sun-dappled lawn." -- The Telegraph (UK) Excerpt from Book Chapter One Considering that Philip Lucas''s aunt who died early in April was no less than eighty-three years old, and had spent the last seven of them bedridden in a private lunatic asylum, it had been generally and perhaps reasonably hoped among his friends and those of his wife that the bereavement would not be regarded by either of them as an intolerable tragedy. Mrs. Quantock, in fact, who, like everybody else at Riseholme, had sent a neat little note of condolence to Mrs. Lucas, had, without using the actual words "happy release," certainly implied it or its close equivalent. She was hoping that there would be a reply to it, for though she had said in her note that her dear Lucia mustn''t dream of answering it, that was a mere figure of speech, and she had instructed her parlour maid who took it across to The Hurst immediately after lunch to say that she didn''t know if there was an answer, and would wait to see, for Mrs. Lucas might perhaps give a little hint ever so vaguely about what the expectations were concerning which everybody was dying to get information ... While she waited for this, Daisy Quantock was busy, like everybody else in the village on this beautiful afternoon of spring, with her garden, hacking about with a small but destructive fork in her flower-beds. She was a gardener of the ruthless type, and went for any small green thing that incautiously showed a timid spike above the earth, suspecting it of being a weed. She had had a slight difference with the professional gardener who had hitherto worked for her on three afternoons during the week, and had told him that his services were no longer required. She meant to do her gardening herself this year, and was confident that a profusion of beautiful flowers and a plethora of delicious vegetables would be the result. At the end of her garden path was a barrow of rich manure, which she proposed, when she had finished the slaughter of the innocents, to dig into the depopulated beds. On the other side of her paling her neighbour Georgie Pillson was rolling his strip of lawn, on which during the summer he often played croquet on a small scale. Occasionally they shouted remarks to each other, but as they got more and more out of breath with their exertions the remarks got fewer. Mrs. Quantock''s last question had been "What do you do with slugs, Georgie?" and Georgie had panted out, "Pretend you don''t see them." Mrs. Quantock had lately grown rather stout owing to a diet of sour milk, which without plenty of sugar was not palatable; but sour milk and pyramids of raw vegetables had quite stopped all the symptoms of consumption which the study of a small but lurid medical manual had induced. Today she had eaten a large but normal lunch in order to test the merits of her new cook, who certainly was a success, for her husband had gobbled up his food with great avidity instead of turning it over and over with his fork as if it was hay. In consequence, stoutness, surfeit, and so much stooping had made her feel rather giddy, and she was standing up to recover, wondering if this giddiness was a symptom of something dire, when de Vere, for such was the incredible name of her parlour-maid, came down the steps from the dining-room with a note in her hand. So Mrs. Quantock hastily took off her gardening gloves of stout leather, and opened it. There was a sentence of formal thanks for her sympathy which Mrs. Lucas immensely prized, and then followed these ridiculous words: It has been a terrible blow to my poor Peppino and myself. We trusted that Auntie Amy might have been spared us for a few years yet. Ever, dear Daisy, your sad Lucia And not a word about expectations!... Lucia''s dear Daisy crumpled up the absurd note, and said "Rubbish," so loud that Georgie Pillson in the next garden thought he was being addressed. "What''s that?" he said. "Georgie, come to the fence a minute," said Mrs. Quantock. "I want to speak to you." Georgie, longing for a little gossip, let go of the handle of his roller, which, suddenly released, gave a loud squeak and rapped him smartly on the elbow. "Tarsome thing!" said Georgie. He went to the fence and, being tall, could look over it. There was Mrs. Quantock angrily poking Lucia''s note into the flower-bed she had been weeding. "What is it?" said Georgie. "Shall I like it?" His face red, and moist with exertion, appearing just over the top of the fence, looked like the sun about to set below the flat grey horizon of the sea. "I don''t know if you''ll like it," said Daisy, "but it''s your Lucia. I sent her a little note of condolence about the aunt, and she says it has been a terrible blow to Peppino and herself. They hoped that the old lady might have been spared them a few years yet." "No!" said Georgie, wiping the moisture off his forehead with the back of one of his beautiful pearl-grey gloves. "But she did," said the infuriated Daisy, "they were her very words. I could show you if I hadn''t dug it in. Such a pack of nonsense! I hope that long before I''ve been bedridden for seven years, somebody will strangle me with a bootlace, or anything handy. Why does Lucia pretend to be sorry? What does it all mean?" Georgie had long been devoted henchman to Lucia (Mrs. Lucas, wife of Philip Lucas, and so Lucia), and though he could criticise her in his mind, when he was alone in his bed or his bath, he always championed her in the face of the criticism of others. Whereas Daisy criticised everybody everywhere ... "Perhaps it means what it says," he observed with the delicate sarcasm that never had any effect on his neighbour. "It can''t possibly do that," said Mrs. Quantock. "Neither Lucia nor Peppino have set eyes on his aunt for years, nor spoken of her. Last time Peppino went to see her she bit him. Sling for a week afterwards, don''t you remember, and he was terrified of blood-poisoning. How can her death be a blow, and as for her being spared--" Mrs. Quantock suddenly broke off, remembering that de Vere was still standing there and drinking it all in. "That''s all, de Vere," she said. "Thank you, ma''am," said de Vere, striding back towards the house. She had high-heeled shoes on, and each time she lifted her foot, the heel which had been embedded by her weight in the soft lawn came out with the sound of a cork being drawn. Then Daisy came closer to the fence, with the light of inductive reasoning, which was much cultivated at Riseholme, veiling the fury of her eye. &, Alfred A. Knopf<

2015, ISBN: 110191212X

[EAN: 9781101912126], Neubuch, [PU: Alfred A. Knopf, New York], Paperback. E. F. Benson's beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty sn… Mehr…

[EAN: 9781101912126], Neubuch, [PU: Alfred A. Knopf, New York], Paperback. E. F. Benson's beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty snobberies and competitive maneuverings of English village society in the 1920s and 1930s.The third and fourth novels in the series, Lucia in London (1927) and Mapp and Lucia (1931) continue the adventures of Benson's famously irrepressible characters, and bring them into hilarious conflict. Both Mrs. Lucia Lucas and Miss Elizabeth Mapp are accustomed to complete social supremacy, and when one intrudes on the other's territory, war ensues. Lucia sees herself as a benevolent-if ruthless-dictator, while Miss Mapp is driven by an insatiable desire for vengeance against the presumptuous interloper. Their skirmishes-played out on a battlefield composed of dinner parties, council meetings, and art exhibits-enliven the plots of Benson's maliciously witty comedies. "Lucia in London was originally published in the United Kingdom by Hutchinson and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., in 1927"--Title page verso. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability., Books<

2015, ISBN: 110191212X

[EAN: 9781101912126], Neubuch, [PU: Alfred A. Knopf, New York], Paperback. E. F. Benson's beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty sn… Mehr…

[EAN: 9781101912126], Neubuch, [PU: Alfred A. Knopf, New York], Paperback. E. F. Benson's beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty snobberies and competitive maneuverings of English village society in the 1920s and 1930s.The third and fourth novels in the series, Lucia in London (1927) and Mapp and Lucia (1931) continue the adventures of Benson's famously irrepressible characters, and bring them into hilarious conflict. Both Mrs. Lucia Lucas and Miss Elizabeth Mapp are accustomed to complete social supremacy, and when one intrudes on the other's territory, war ensues. Lucia sees herself as a benevolent-if ruthless-dictator, while Miss Mapp is driven by an insatiable desire for vengeance against the presumptuous interloper. Their skirmishes-played out on a battlefield composed of dinner parties, council meetings, and art exhibits-enliven the plots of Benson's maliciously witty comedies. "Lucia in London was originally published in the United Kingdom by Hutchinson and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., in 1927"--Title page verso. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability., Books<