Lucia in London

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5 stars (1 review)

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.

1 edition

reviewed Lucia in London

I am, always, a Luciaphil

5 stars

I've read EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels, and also books by other authors featuring our two heroines, so many times but it's always a pleasure to revisit them.

This is book three of Benson's chronicle. It's the last before Mapp and Lucia finally meet and is in some ways the odd one out in the set in that it's set in neither Riseholme nor Tilling but (mainly) in London and the other characters are a lot more knowing than in the other novels in that they regard Lucia as an amusement rather than one of nature's forces.

But it's still a fine read and I wouldn't dream of skipping it as part of my current re-reading of the whole set.

Next up is 'Mapp and Lucia' and then the sparks will really start to fly ... but that's for another day.