‘Anger and the gravest suspicions about everybody had kept her young and on the boil.’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, Miss Mapp introduces the formidable Elizabeth Mapp. It is the second book in Benson’s hugely successful series.

Set in the quaint seaside town of Tilling, inspired by the real-life village of Rye where Benson once lived, busybody Miss Mapp is known for her sharp eye and even sharper tongue. Usually found spying on the neighbourhood through her bay window, Elizabeth works hard to maintain her social standing through winning bridge games, making the most lavish dresses of the town and obtaining the best gossip. Often preoccupied with a bitter rivalry with her neighbour, Godiva Plaistow, Miss Mapp shines a spotlight on the bizarre lengths people go to in the name of keeping up appearances, told with wit and warmth. This audiobook edition is brilliantly read by Lucy Scott.

E.F. Benson (1867 – 1940) was an English novelist, historian and short story writer. A precocious writer, he published his first book while he was at university. He is best known for the successful novel, Dodo (1893), and his collection of satirical and evocative ghost stories.