''Lucia's Progress'' (published in the US as ''The Worshipful Lucia'') is a 1935

comic novel A comic novel is a Novel, novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's liter ...

written by

E. F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer. Early life E. F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshire, ...

. It is the fifth of six novels in the popular

Mapp and Lucia ''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 (novel series), Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over the ...

series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. It continues the story from the 1931 novel ''

'', which brought Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas and Georgie Pillson from ''

Queen Lucia ''Queen Lucia'' is a 1920 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the first 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. This book intro ...

'' (1920) and '' Lucia in London'' (1927) together with Miss Elizabeth Mapp and her neighbours from '' Miss Mapp'' (1922). In this novel, Mapp and Lucia continue their efforts to control social life in the quaint seaside town of Tilling. Lucia and Mapp both enter the world of high finance, and run for seats on the Borough Council. Major incidents include Lucia's excavation for Roman ruins in the garden of Mallards, Mapp's suggestion that she may be pregnant, and Lucia and Georgie's sexless marriage.

Inspiration

The town of Tilling was famously inspired by

Rye, East Sussex Rye is a town and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex, England, from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the River Rother (Eastern), Rother, the River Tillingham, Tillingham and the River Brede, Brede. An ...

, where E. F. Benson lived, and incidents involving his neighbours sometimes found their way into his comic novels. In ''E. F. Benson Remembered, and the World of Tilling'', Cynthia and Tony Reavell point out one correspondence involving a Rye resident, writer

Radclyffe Hall Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe-Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943), more known under her pen name Radclyffe Hall, was an English poet and author, best known for the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', a groundbreaking work in lesbian literatur ...

: "We learn that Radclyffe Hall was greatly excited when she was having extensive alterations done to her house, The Black Boy, in the High Street in 1930, to find a number of ancient objects emerging from the excavations. The same thing happens to Lucia in ''Lucia's Progress'', published in 1935."

Reception

In ''Frivolity Unbound'', Robert F. Kiernan notes that sexual repression is a key theme in the novel, with Lucia and Georgie's marriage dependent on the fact that neither have any appetite for affectionate caresses, and Mapp's pregnancy charade. He writes, "What is one to make of the preoccupation with incidental pastimes in Tilling except that everyone is as desperate as Mapp to fill nature's void?" A contemporary review in the ''Vancouver Sun'' found the novel insubstantial but charming, while the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' wrote, "Mr. Benson has undoubtedly given us no book more charged with 'mirth that after no repenting draws.'"{{cite news , title=Novels of the Day: Ladies at War , url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-lucias-progre/138722000/ , access-date=14 January 2024 , work=

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

, date=May 3, 1935 , page=7

Sequel

''Lucia's Progress'' is the fifth book in what became known as the series of ''

'' novels. The series is continued in ''

Trouble for Lucia ''Trouble for Lucia'' is a 1939 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the sixth and final novel in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. In th ...

'', published in 1939.

Adaptation

In the 1985 television adaptation ''

'', ''Lucia's Progress'' is used as the basis for the first three episodes of the second series; the final two episodes of the series are based on the sixth book (''

'').

References

Novels by E. F. Benson Mapp and Lucia 1935 British novels British comedy novels Novels set in England Hodder & Stoughton books