Bloody amazing

Been wanting the full and unabridged M&L books for a while. I humbly awaited Miriam M to do them as I have her abridged performances. You can imagine my wonderment when I saw they were available for purchase and I can confirm Georgina performs them wonderfully and gets the nuances perfectly down to a ‘T’. One of the best audible purchases I’ve made.

4 people found this helpful

Spoiled by the narrator

E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series is a minor masterpiece in its portrait of human folly. The books, especially these three, are superbly written, breathtaking in their observation and hilariously funny.

The narrator is great too, she is just entirely wrong for these books. She misunderstands the characters, portraying each in the same arch monotone, she mispronounces their names and deadens the exposition.

Somehow every vestige of compulsion, humer and joy is stripped from the narration and discarded.

The best audio versions are narrated by Miriam Margoles, get those instead.

2 people found this helpful

poor experformance

unlike other books in the series this reader lends no expression to the characters, Lucia is mild mannered and soft voiced, whilst Georgie is deep throated and laconic.

1 person found this helpful

Absolutely charming perfection.

Characterisation, story and performance, as Lucia says, absolutely perfect. Life in Tilling is charmingly romanticised in these novels.

Cottagecore lobotomy with brilliant narrator

The characters embody all the qualities that I hate the most in people (vanity, pettiness, pride, artifice) and are often so insufferable I want to punch them (minus Georgie)- yet I have somehow been lulled into over 15 hours of this semi comforting, semi exasperating fluff. Theres a glacial creak of character development and some funny moments but overall it’s just a cosy lobotomy. The narrator is really brilliant though! If it weren’t for her there’s no way I’d be able to endure this.

Am devastated to have finished the series. ..

...whatever can I ever enjoy as much. EF Benson I love you. Georgie, I love you even more ❤️

How can nothing happening be so enjoyable?

Loved it. Nothing much happens but I really got sucked into the lives of the Tillingites. So cute. Georgie is my favourite. The performer was superb, it was easy to forget that it was one person

Totally brilliant!

These six books written as a series are excellent. They vividly take you to another world. The comedy is laugh out loud and often hilarious. I have read them a number of times as I think the satire and social commentary is brilliant. They don’t date and the themes are still relevant today. The reading is wonderful and full of convincing characterisation. A great joy all round. Feel sad I’ve finished but will listen again in a few years !

Perfect reading of the exquisite worlds of Risleholme and Tilling

Georgina Sutton added magic to what was already a perfect series- her voices for the various characters were excellent- a tour de force

Superb narration of an hilarious classic

This is the best narration I have ever heard: every character distinct; no voices too freakish to believe in; beautifully clear and distinct and no annoying mispronunciations. Of course, the stories themselves are absolutely wonderful, often making you laugh out loud, and they’re brilliantly well-observed. An absolute joy in every way. Many congratulations to the narrator who brought the stories to life so vividly and convincingly.