Right, I hope that now the job is settling down a bit I can get back to normal on Random and start reviewing books again and not just stick in a photo to keep you all happy. I let Sunday go by in sloth and idleness with the satisfying knowledge that I did not have to get up this morning and go to work and that I am now a part-time commuter, for the time being anyway. I am going to have to be a bit disciplined with all this spare time or else I will spend nearly all of it doing nothing at all, though reading Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K Jerome last year made me realise the joy of being lazy.
Anyway I am now going to rave about Major Benjy by Guy Fraser Sampson.
As everyone will know by now, I have discovered Mapp and Lucia this year and have been so delighted by this that I have rocketed around telling simply Everyone how wonderful and marvellous they are and that Everyone must read them and not waste years and years as I did of being totally ignorant of these glorious books. To my certain knowledge, I have managed about six converts so far and lots more visitors have 
promised me that they will give them a whirl.
I galloped through the six E F Benson books in record time as is my wont, and then read the two written by Tom Holt, bought the DVDs and watched them all and then came to a grinding halt with the ghastly realisation that I had binged once more and I had no more treats in store. Then Lo and Behold, Simon over on Stuck in a Book (who I adore and think he is a genius and has a wonderful blog) wrote about Major Benjy by Guy Fraser-Sampson and I was miserable no longer.
In the introduction the author says "There are in fact only two things wrong with the Mapp and Lucia books. The first is that there are only six of them....second problem is that because of this there are gaps in the narrative which are never filled in, into which holes some characters fall without explanation to be never seen again"
The particular tome is set just before Lucia arrives in Tilling for the first time and rents Elizabeth's house for the summer. We have already met the main resident characters in the earlier books and it is ajoy to once more meet the Major, Quaint Irene, the Wyses and all the others, but I will freely admit that Lucy, who lives with Irene ("the precise basis upon which the two shared Taormina was something upon which polite Tilling society preferred not to speculate"), was not a character who had impinged upon my consciousness. However, I understand that she had fallen into one of these 'holes' referred to so in Major Benjy we learn more about her and just how and why she left Tilling.
No need for me to elaborate on the content of this utterly glorious book as all LuciaandMapppites will fall upon it with cries of rapture and read and, unless you are feeling most contrary, will adore. I know I did.
May I please ask the author to seek out other 'holes' in E F Benson's narrative and write more about them? I would love to hear about the young Lucia and how she met Pepino, like to learn a bit more about Georgie and what happens after the glorious finale of the books when the Duchess of Sheffield comes to stay with Lucia and Elizabeth is utterly routed. One cannot believe that she would really not bounce back and try something else. Reference is also made to Lucia meeting Elizabeth when she visited Riseholme and took up her phrase of Au Reservoir. Would love to hear more about that as well.....
My misery, of course, has now returned because once more I am Mappless, but I have decided that over Christmas, I am going to spend some profitable sofa time with reading them all over again. They now join the list of books that I re-read on a regular basis and of which I never tire.
Thank you Guy for this labour of love. You should be dubbed Sir Guy on the spot for outstanding service to all Mapp and Lucia lovers.
