Major Benjy [Paperback]

Guy Fraser-Sampson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2008

This welcome addition to the hugely popular Mapp and Lucia series finds Major Flint in need of a new servant, Miss Mapp in need of a summer tenant, and Quaint Irene in need of a pint of bitter. Romantic entanglements stir the still waters of Tilling society, cunning plots are laid, and unforeseen complications ensue. Who is doing what to whom with a bottle of sesame oil? What is the truth behind the great Tilling chocolate cake mystery? Why does Major Flint need a loaded elephant gun? Did Miss Mapp really poison the Padre? Are Diva Plaistow's days as a single woman numbered? How will Mr Wyse measure up as a man of action? Or Susan as a marriage counsellor? Oh yes . and what really happened to Lucy? Double best-selling author Guy Fraser-Sampson, a life-long Mapp and Lucia fan, superbly captures the literary style of the original series, and offers us a new depth of understanding for many of Tilling's best-loved characters.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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. Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover 20081013

About the Author

Guy Fraser-Sampson is a published non-fiction author with two Amazon best-sellers to his credit, one of which has been in the best-seller list every week since publication and has been translated into several languages around the world.He has lived and worked in varoius locations including Abu Dhabi and Paris but currently lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd (July 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906510741
• ISBN-13: 978-1906510749
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was previously a senior level investment manager, including a spell as Investment Controller with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and running for several years the international operations of a leading US fund manager. For the past five years I have been designing and teaching a number of post-graduate modules at Cass Business School in the City of London, as well as conducting consultancy and high level training assignments for various investors around the world.

If you live in the UK then you will almost certainly have seen me on television or heard me on radio, particularly in the last several months when I have been in demand to discuss the unfolding financial crisis and what this may mean for investors. If you live elsewhere, then you may have seen me giving a keynote address at an investment conference.

In writing finance and investment books I seek both to entertain and inform. I do not write a book unless I feel I genuinely have something new to say, and every one of my mainstream investment books is on a subject in respect of which I am acknowledged as one of the leading experts in the world.

"No Fear Finance" is different. I have for many years felt that there is an "alternative" way to teaching finance, which is particularly relevant when teaching people with no quantitative background. Having proved this to my satisfaction in the classroom, I then wrote the book. It is, so far as I have been able to ascertain, the only book of its type in the world. It teaches finance in a way which is, so far as possible, conceptual rather than mathematical, and no previous arithmetical ability is assumed.

I also write fiction and history.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite, January 31, 2009

By 

M. L. Dehm (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Major Benjy (Paperback)

If you're a true Luciaphil, you're probably not going to enjoy this book, especially if you agree with Lucia about that "horrid thing which Freud calls sex" being expunged. Ribaldry abounds in these pages. I found most of the plot to be more Benny Hill than E.F. Benson.

Another glaring concern is lack of editing. By the time I had finished the second chapter it was clear that this was a vanity publication and that Fraser-Sampson had no helpful copy-editor to catch a multitude of spelling, punctuation and other errors. I noticed at least three characters with name spellings not only different from Benson's but also changing from the beginning to the end of this manuscript. Luciaphils will catch a few other blunders as well.

That being said, Fraser-Sampson does manage to catch a whiff of Benson's style, especially in a sub-plot regarding a cake competition that stood out well above the rest. I would probably consider buying any future volumes if I hear they contain less bedroom farce.

Personally, I think Fraser-Sampson should create his own characters in a Benson-esque style rather than write to the Mapp and Lucia series. He is obviously talented but I didn't think he was able to stay within the tight restraints necessary to make "Major Benjy" a worthy sequel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No!, July 18, 2009

By 

New books "Reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Major Benjy (Paperback)

In the author's note to this book, he bemoans the fact that some of the minor characters in E.F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia series are two-dimensional and in `Major Benjy' he sets out to correct this perceived fault.

Unhappily in the process he not only fails E.F. Benson and the reader but also misinterprets the main characters - some of the most delicious and memorable monsters in light fiction - so clearly established by the original creator. He comes closest with Miss Mapp, but empowers other such as Evvie (too verbose), the Contessa (deficient in style), Diva (lacking her telegraphic speech pattern), Susan Wyse (too sympathetic) and Mr Wyse (less remote) with characteristics and speech that are at odds with their established persona.

The biggest error is an attempt to flesh out the wondrous Lucy, that enigmatic, gigantic maid and friend of Quaint Irene. Benson alludes to their relationship obliquely and wittily, leaving the reader to conjure up the reality, and in doing so, he cleverly conveys his meaning without raising the subject of sex. In this new work, sex seems to be the main driving force, which again is against the character of the inhabitants of Tilling. Benson makes it clear that sexual passion is something that is foreign to their environment. That is part of the success and joy of his works. Major Benjy himself is regarded as having had numerous romantic entanglements, but this is only hearsay and probably doubted in Tilling minds as much as his tales of tiger hunting.

It is obvious in the originals that Miss Mapp has unsuccessfully set her cap at Major Benjy (marriage being perceived as an upward social step rather than being an avenue for ardour) but at the end of Benson's Miss Mapp, she has succeeded in breaking down his defence to the point of playing golf with him. Yet at the beginning of `Major Benjy', their relationship seems to have reverted to one of cat and mouse and it is odd that she should encourage him to seek a new servant for his household, when it would seem more likely that she would renew her efforts to snare him into marriage and her established domestic milieu.

The publishers of this self-published book make it clear that they expect the author to engage in editing the work prior to publication and here Guy Fraser-Sampson does himself a great disservice. Apart from the many spelling and typing errors (there is little evidence of proof reading) the book needs the eye of an experienced editor to reduce the dead wood and to focus on the imperfections in the characters and story. Niggling things such as anachronisms annoy: Miss Mapp wraps her cake in baking foil, which appears to have made it first appearances in kitchens of the world in 1945. Research is essential in dealing with events set in the past.

Overall, the book is mildly musing but to devotees of Benson it falls short of being a success. The road to Tilling is paved with good intentions.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Support this author!, August 12, 2008

By 

WebleyWebster - See all my reviews

This review is from: Major Benjy (Paperback)

"Major Benjy" is the first addition to E. F. Benson's "Lucia" novels since Tom Holt's "Lucia in Wartime" and "Lucia Triumphant" were published in the 1980's. Unlike Holt's books, which pick up the narrative where Benson left off, Guy Fraser-Sampson has written a tale of Tilling that takes place between Benson's "Miss Mapp" and "Mapp and Lucia."

Though Fraser-Sampson remains true to the spirit and setting of Benson's work, "Major Benjy" introduces a somewhat bawdier tone, albeit through the genteel lens of Tilling society. It's slightly jarring at first, though perhaps inevitable if one wishes to see believable, three-dimensional portraits of characters like Benjamin Flint and Irene Coles. And that is where Fraser-Sampson makes a significant contribution to the Lucia canon beyond simply spinning an entertaining story: he deftly achieves his goal of fleshing out Benson's minor characters. From Mr. Wyse's thoughtful social engineering to the Padre's bridge acumen, we learn more about our favorite Tillingites than their signature gestures. Incredibly, Fraser-Sampson even manages to work a few genuinely touching moments into the book, painted with a few simple strokes and never at the expense of the story's humor. Don't be afraid - these elements simply make our beloved characters all the more endearing.

The plot is true to form, full of enjoyable turns yet secondary to a host of selfish desires, manipulative schemes, and hilariously hypocritical posturing. When Mapp endures a typical social humiliation, she is characteristically blind to her own faults while indignant at the identical failures of others: "How typical of Diva to be so devious! She had obviously surmised that Miss Mapp might attempt to steal her thunder, but also that she would have expected her stratagem to be suspected, hence this outrageous double bluff of actually doing exactly what it was that she was supposed to be doing in the first place." That is the sort of masterful stuff that has transformed casual readers into Benson fans, Holt fans, and now (if there is any justice) into fans of Fraser-Sampson as well.

Which brings me to my exhortation that you support this worthy effort, because Guy Fraser-Sampson has more up his sleeve. Next up is "Lucia on Holiday," with the aptly titled "Au Reservoir" planned as a finale for the entire Benson/Holt/Fraser-Sampson series. The publication of these future installments is likely to be contingent upon the success of "Major Benjy." What a joy it would be if publishing houses would be forced to take note of and respond to the international Lucia fanbase. Not only would we enjoy more from Fraser-Sampson, but perhaps someone would consider reprinting Benson and the expensively rare Holt as well.

In short, fellow Luciaphiles, "Major Benjy" belongs on your bookshelf.