‘Bits of exultation kept peeping out, and Lucia kept poking them back.’

Part of a six-instalment comic book series, Mapp and Lucia, which recounts the eccentric tales of various women in the 1920s and their fight for social status, Trouble for Lucia sees the continued rivalry between the two iconic protagonists, Emmeline Lucas and Elizabeth Mapp. It is the final book in Benson’s hugely successful series.

Emmeline ‘Lucia’ Lucas, now Mayor of the small seaside town of Tilling, continues her scheming for social dominance with an inflated sense of self-importance. Before long, she appoints her long-standing rival, Elizabeth Mapp, as her mayoress to put an end to any challenges to Lucia’s authority. But it is not just Miss Mapp who proves worthy of concern: a new cast of characters bring fresh chaos into Lucia’s life, and her attempts to retain her hold over the community of Tilling. Packed full of Machiavellian social manoeuvring, eccentric town politics and plenty of gossip, the final instalment of Mapp and Lucia is as witty as it is absurd, told with Benson’s trademark humour and charm. This audiobook edition is brilliantly read by Lucy Scott.

E.F. Benson (1867 – 1940) was an English novelist, historian and short story writer. A precocious writer, he published his first book while he was at university. He is best known for the successful novel, Dodo (1893), and his collection of satirical and evocative ghost stories.