Lucia Triumphant - Hardcover

Holt, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333427378 ISBN 13: 9780333427378

Publisher: Macmillan, 1986

Synopsis

In postwar Britain, the quaint town of Tilling is feeling the pull of both the modern world and its Norman past. Elizabeth Mapp-Flint, in yet another bid to wrest power back from her social rival Lucia Pillson—now the town’s mayor—purchases a motor-car. Hoping to improve her shaky motoring skills in private, she makes a significant tactical error by leaving town. Lucia profits from Elizabeth’s absence by putting one of her “ideas” into action: the embroidery of a tapestry depicting the history of Tilling, one that will surely surpass Bayeux’s. All Lucia’s subjects are called upon to labour long and hard in its execution. Meanwhile Elizabeth, stranded in Southampton, happens upon a game of Monopoly in her hotel room, and—minus her broken-winged chariot—hurries home to rescue her fellow Tillingites from the tedium of Lucia’s latest worthy endeavor. Who will prove the greater master of Monopoly? What will become of the abandoned tapestry? Is Elizabeth really descended from Norman nobility? Is Mallards haunted, and if so, who saw the ghost first—Lucia, its current resident, or Elizabeth, its former owner? It is not in the best interests of the Tillingites to allow either woman to prevail for long. For in the end, Lucia and Elizabeth’s tactical maneuvering and petty victories and defeats offer the best entertainment in town. Originally published in 1986, Lucia Triumphant is the second of Tom Holt’s officially sanctioned sequels to the hilarious “Lucia” novels of E.F. Benson.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Holt was born in London and studied at Oxford. Now a full-time writer, he lives in Somerset, England, with his wife, one daughter, and the unmistakable scent of blood, wafting in on the breeze from the local meat-packing plant.

From AudioFile

In the fictional English village of Tilling sometime after the WWI, concerns of trench warfare abroad have been replaced with a communal fixation on the social and political battles of two formidable town matrons, Lucia and Elizabeth. Lucia launches offenses such as a Tilling tapestry project and spends considerable time countering moves by Elizabeth, such as driving a motor car, introducing the game of Monopoly, and presenting fake aristocratic ancestors. Norma West reads this story of foolish pursuits rather too well. She makes the characters all too believable, a strategy that unfortunately means all too irritating. She produces just the right note for Lucia, with her cloying appeals and affected use of Italian. Listeners will find this story either charming and funny or trivial and inane. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0333427378
• ISBN 13: 9780333427378
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1