Queen Lucia (Mapp & Lucia #1) ★★★✬☆

 

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Title: Queen Lucia
Series: Mapp & Lucia #1
Authors: E.F. Benson
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Pages: 317
Words: 86K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Emmeline Lucas is the social queen of Riseholme, presiding over her community and directing their interests in art and culture. A pretentious show-off, La Lucia drops random Italian phrases into her speech, gives concerts to her friends of the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, dabbles in art, and plants Shakespeare-themed flower arrangements in her garden. Her neighbor, devoted faddist Daisy Quantock, has given up her uric-acid-free diet and Christian Science to focus on Indian mysticism, thanks to a mysterious guru who shows up at her door and offers to show her the Way. Lucia must decide how to annex the guru, and turn this into a social success for herself. Daisy then brings in a Russian medium, Princess Popoffski. Lucia has a harder time when opera diva Olga Bracely arrives in Riseholme for a visit, luring away Lucia's devoted friend Georgie Pillson.

My Thoughts:

There was a distinct lack of Mapp in this book. I'm not really worried about that, as I'm sure whoever Mapp is will show up in later books. But it is annoying to me so I figured I'd vent my spleen before writing anything else.

So Lucia is a prima donna in a small town and rules the roost. She's the social queen and is used to getting her own way in practically everything. That could be annoying, but Benson provides plenty of foils in the comedic vein so it is amusing rather than annoying.

This story was ALL about the characters. Lucia was just the fulcrum but all of the other main side characters were just as important. From the sham guru to the fake psychic to the very real opera singer to the best friend Georgie Pillson caught in the middle of it all. This is a set of character sketches in various social settings, all of them awkward yet amusing.

I did have to read this in smaller doses instead of all at once, but each story was pretty self-contained so it was easy to read about one instance and then take a break. I am really hoping that whoever Mapp is that I'll meet her in the next book, because otherwise I'll be changing the name of this series to “Lucia” and going off on a rant and do a lot of ree'ing like a little baby.

★★★✬☆