Showing results for "Benson" in Literary Fiction

E. F. Benson, best known for his irresistible Mapp and Lucia novels set in the fictional town of Tilling, England, was a prolific and beloved novelist. Though the Mapp and Lucia books remain popular to this day, this kindred book will be back in print for the first time since its initial publication. The son of E. W. Benson, archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 to 1896, the young E. F. Benson was educated at Marlborough School and at King's College, Cambridge.

Overbearing Emmeline ‘Lucia’ Lucas is back yet again, leaving the small town of Riseholme to embrace the new and exciting social offerings of London. Having acquired a second home in the city with her husband, Peppino, Lucia immediately evaluates her avenues to climb the ranks to the highest social circles. All are not fooled by her shameless gambits, however, and we are introduced to a cast of astonished followers, including Stephen Merriall, who may not be as trustworthy as he appears.

Mimi is a single mum in her twenties, looking to break free from her family's judgements and her church's oppressive, hypocritical gossip to establish who she is on her own. But a dangerous new romance could lead her into trouble...Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old Abi dreams of emulating the life she sees through social media and helping her mother with the bills. When she's offered the chance to make money fast by helping a group of local boys, she and her friends jump at it. But soon they're crossing county lines, and Abi finds she's in over her head...

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.

Lucia is back—and she's more formidable than ever. In this wickedly funny fifth instalment of E.F. Benson's beloved Mapp and Lucia series, the indomitable Mrs. Emmeline Lucas sets her sights on the quaint village of Tilling. With impeccable manners and a razor-sharp sense of strategy, she schemes her way to the top of the social ladder, charming and outmaneuvering her rivals at every turn.

An illuminating debut following three women in sub-Saharan Africa as they search for home and family Leona, an isolated American anthropologist, gives birth to a baby girl in a remote Maasai village and must decide how she can be a mother, in spite of her own grim childhood. Jane, a lonely expat...

The queen bee of the fictional village of Riseholme, Mrs. Emmeline ‘Lucia’ Lucas is a snobbish yet oddly charming woman who prides herself on being the cultural and intellectual leader of her community. She dabbles in art, plants Shakespeare-themed flower arrangements in her garden and uses fake Italian phrases to maintain her social standing. Trouble brews when some new arrivals to town – including the glamorous opera singer Olga Bracely and the eccentric spiritualist Daisy Quantock – begin to challenge Lucia’s hold over Riseholme.

Paris, 1941: Going against her mother’s orders, spirited Maggie devotes herself to the Resistance. Her life is a whirlwind of forged passports and secret midnight runs, helping Jews escape. Much to her high-society mother’s disapproval, she has fallen in love with Emil, a Jewish Resistance fighter who is wanted by the Nazis.

Unbeknownst to most of humankind, a powerful network of witches thrives within the shadows of society, using their magic to keep the world in balance. But they are being eliminated - and we will all pay if their power falls... When Elyse MacAllister's great-aunt Eleanora, the woman who raised her, becomes deathly ill, Lyse puts her comfortable life in Georgia on hold to rush back to Los Angeles. And once she returns to Echo Park, Lyse discovers her great-aunt has been keeping secrets.

A warm, funny, moving, and unsentimental tale of one family and the English countryside. After 200 years of farming in Yorkshire, the Benson family was forced to sell up. They found, like so many, that the land could no longer support them. While the farming way of life never came naturally to Richard Benson, a point that sent him running to London, he still feels his parents' loss and returns to do what he can to help.

It is the story of a Family halfheartedly searching for a missing relation who does not want to be found, while just off-stage, World War I is raging on the continent. It is a story about ordinary people trying to live ordinary lives in extraordinary times. The things they do are less important than the ways in which they do them: often comic, occasionally tragic, but always touching and true to life. It reminds us that Poetry and Romance can be found anywhere, hidden beneath the surface of the most commonplace things.

"Queen Lucia" (1920) is the first volume of E. F. Benson’s "Mapp and Lucia" 6-novel series. It is a comedy of manners, set in provincial Riseholme (Lincolnshire). Emmeline Lucas rules local society with the help of her friend Georgie Pillson, a position she fiercely protects from her rival Daisy Quantock. But this very situation is at risk, as a scandal breaks out and a famous Prima Donna arrives in the sleepy old hamlet.

The Desert Islander is the story of a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who seeks help from an Englishman living in a remote part of southern China during the Chinese war. Two facts quickly become apparent about our legionnaire. First, that he has a narcissistic personality disorder which leaves him devoid of empathy and in desperate need to attention and adulation. Second that he is suffering from a gangrenous leg.

Eugenides Debütroman über ein erschütterndes Familiendrama: Die fünf Lisbon-Schwestern wachsen gut behütet in einer Mittelstandsfamilie in einer Vorstadt im Norden der USA auf. Doch als sich die Jüngste aus dem Fenster stürzt und ihre Schwestern sich innerhalb eines Jahres ebenfalls eine nach der anderen umbringen, ist nichts mehr, wie es mal war. Erzählt aus der Perspektive der Nachbarjungen steht nicht so sehr die Frage nach den Motiven der Mädchen im Vordergrund, sondern der Umgang der Hinterbliebenen mit den Vorfällen.

There is something about the number 3. The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two. Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois. It seems good things usually come in threes. Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating.

Der Roman "Die Wohlgesinnten" ist die fiktive Autobiografie des SS-Offiziers Maximilian Aue, Sohn eines deutschen Vaters und einer französischen Mutter, promovierter Jurist und frühes NSDAP-Mitglied. Es sind die beklemmenden und verstörenden Erinnerungen an die Schauplätze des Zweiten Weltkriegs und an das Grauen der Judenvernichtung, an die Einsatzkommandos und Massenhinrichtungen in der Ukraine und im Kaukasus, an Babi Jar, den Kessel von Stalingrad, Auschwitz und Krakau, das besetzte Paris und das kriegszerstörte Berlin, an die Begegnungen mit Himmler, an Abendessen mit Eichmann, an Heydrich, Höß und Speer.

RUNNER-UP FOR THE DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE Set in the near future, this hopeful story of survival and resilience follows Wanda—a luminous child born out of a devastating hurricane—as she navigates a rapidly changing world: A “symphony of beauty and heartbreak” (Associated Press). USA...

Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen’s first novels, though it was not published until after her death, and contains some of her most biting satire. Catherine Morland, the novel’s naive and provincial heroine, has formed her idea of the world from Gothic novels, full of gloomy Italian castles, long-kept secrets, and dastardly villains. However, when she travels to the city of Bath and encounters a wider society, she will discover that all her reading has ill-prepared her for the real world.

Writing under a man's name, Josephine Breaux is the finest reporter at Washington's Morning Clarion. Using her wit and charm, she never fails to get the scoop on the latest Union and Confederate activities. But when a rival paper reveals her true identity, accusations of treason fly. Despite her claims of loyalty to the Union, she is arrested as a spy and traitor.

Meet Siobhan Quinn - half vampire, half werewolf, and retired monster hunter. Or so she thought. Three years have passed since Quinn turned her back on Providence, Rhode Island’s seedy supernatural underbelly, walking out on Mr. B. and taking a bus headed anywhere. She hoped her escape would give her some peace from the endless parade of horrors.