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: "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).
In this novel, Lucia and Georgie leave Riseholme to take up summer residence in Tilling, renting Miss Mapp's home of Mallards. Mapp and Lucia soon begin a war for the dominance of social life in Tilling.
Plot
Mrs. Emmeline Lucas — known to all as "Lucia" — has lost her beloved husband Peppino, who has died since the previous book. Coming out of mourning after a year, she finds that Daisy Quantock has taken over the Elizabethan fête that Lucia originally planned. Determined not to stick around in Riseholme while Daisy plays Queen, Lucia and her friend Georgie Pillson drive down to the quaint seaside town of Tilling, where Elizabeth Mapp lives. Mapp is renting out her house, Mallards, for the summer, and she's delighted to have Lucia as her tenant, since she visited Riseholme several summers before. Lucia convinces Georgie to rent the nearby Mallards Cottage, and he joins her for the summer.
As Lucia was the social leader in Riseholme, Mapp is the queen bee of Tilling, and Mapp intends to use Lucia's visit to bolster her own social standing. Lucia, naturally, has no interest in being bossed, and she easily charms the Tillingites — Diva Plaistow, Major Benji Flint, Mr. and Mrs. Wyse, the Padre and wife, and Quaint Irene — who were sick of being under Mapp's thumb. In addition to this, Lucia used a strong chain on the front door to prevent Mapp from barging into her house whenever she likes, and she insists that the gardener whom she has contracted to pay should work on the lawn and the flowers, rather than grow and harvest Mapp's garden produce for sale.
Now the undisputed society leader, Lucia organizes dull musical parties which consist of listening to her play the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata on the piano. The Tillingites grow restless, and Mapp thinks that she can regain the upper hand when Mr. Wyse announces that his sister, the Contessa Faraglione, will be visiting Tilling, and is looking forward to speaking Italian with Lucia — who pretends to be a fluent Italian speaker, but actually knows only a few scattered phrases. Suspecting the truth, Mapp is thrilled at Lucia's imminent exposure. But Lucia suddenly comes down with imaginary influenza during the entirety of the Contessa's visit, and Georgie comes up with a trick to help Lucia prove that she can speak Italian fluently just as Mapp hopes to make her score.
Energized by this social combat, Lucia decides to stay in Tilling permanently, and buys a house on the outskirts of town called Grebe; Georgie will stay as well, taking a long lease on Mallards Cottage. Mapp is horrified that her rival is staying, but still hopes to gain the upper hand. She tries to wheedle out the recipe for "Lobster á la Riseholme" from Lucia, who refuses to comply. In a rage, Mapp sneaks into the kitchen at Grebe to find the recipe herself — but a storm floods the house, leaving both Mapp and Lucia stranded on top of a kitchen table, which floats out to sea.
Believing that the pair have drowned, the Tillingites grieve, in their own way. Georgie is informed that Lucia has left him Grebe and a large sum of money in her will, which he appreciates but refuses to collect until Lucia is officially pronounced dead. Major Flint, similarly informed that Mapp has left him Mallards, decides to move in right away, and take possession of Mapp's wine cellar. Mapp and Lucia do return to Tilling after several months, having been saved by an Italian fishing ship, and Mapp is enraged to find Major Flint in residence. She kicks him out of the house and refuses to speak to him, but then decides that this is an opportunity to marry Flint, whom she has always had her eye on. She manages to get Flint to finally propose to her, and the novel ends with her wedding party, where she serves "Lobster á la Riseholme", based on the recipe that she stole from Lucia.