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The names ring a bell, but please remind me who they are.
Miss Elizabeth Mapp and Mrs Emmeline Lucas (known to all as Lucia), a pair of socially ambitious society ladies of a certain age, are the central characters in a sextet of comic novels by E F Benson. The two women were first established separately as comic prima donnas in three novels: Queen Lucia (1920), Miss Mapp (1922) and Lucia in London (1927). E F Benson cleverly brought them together in Mapp and Lucia in 1935. This he did by having Lucia relocate from her original setting of Riseholme (thought to be based on Broadway in Worcestershire) to Tilling. Two subsequent Tilling novels complete the series: Lucia's Progress (1937) and Trouble for Lucia (1939).
Forgive me for asking, but has this got anything to do with Rye?
Everything, my dear. Tilling is the fictional counterpart of Rye, a fortified hilltop town on the East Sussex coast, and E F Benson's home for many years. Geographically and aesthetically, there are more similarities than differences between Rye and Tilling. Rye has a grander history than many English seaside towns: in 1336 it was designated one of the Cinque Ports, an ancient confederation of harbours used for defence by Edward the Confessor, and Elizabeth I stayed in Rye for three nights in 1573, bestowing upon it the title "Rye Royale".
What's so memorable about Mapp and Lucia that they are celebrated in Rye?
It is hard to think of another fictional female double act whose verbal sparring achieves similar heights of archness, or whose cataclysmic feuds are based on disagreements so thrillingly petty.
Lucia is a widow, charming, shrewd and imperious, who inspires devotion and fear in equal parts. A more accomplished social climber than she it is hard to imagine. Mapp is a bossy, controlling spinster who lacks Lucia's poise and allure but remains dogged in her clumsy attempts to trump her rival's achievements. The aim of both is to reign supreme at the helm of Tilling society, and therein lies the humour. Walking...