LoveReading Says
A 2014 World Book Night selection.
When this and its sequels first came out in the early 80s it predated HIV and AIDS and reading this now I think one must remember that. They are set in an imaginary world which centres round the inhabitants of 28 Barbary Lane. With the feel of a serial novel we follow many characters in short, easy sections through their young city lives in San Francisco. It made a wonderful TV series in the 90s but the seven books give you so much more. I love them.
August 2011 Guest Editor Deborah Lawrenson on Armistead Maupin...
Armistead Maupin. I just adore the Tales of the City series with its great, exuberant cast of lovable characters. Maupin writes pin-sharp prose that can capture an ambiance or a foible in a finely-tuned phrase. The fog rolling in across the San Francisco Bay presses itself against a window “like a fat lady in ermine”.
A "Piece of Passion" from the publisher...
‘I feel jealous of anyone discovering this series for the first time, they have so much fun ahead of them. This is the first volume and introduces us to our hero Michael Tolliver, the naïve but ambitious Mary-Anne Singleton, the eccentric and loveable Mrs Madrigal and the magical, chaotic city of San Francisco in the late seventies. Witty, poignant, moving, life-affirming, a literary soap opera, this book is a total joy to read, you will love these characters and want to keep going back to Maupin’s later books for more instalments. This is book for anyone and everyone, and is totally addictive.' Judith Welsh, Managing Editor at Transworld
Sarah Broadhurst
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Tales of the City Synopsis
The first novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin's best-selling San Francisco saga, is an uproariously moving novel and an indelible portrait of cultural change from the seventies.
Named as one of the BBC's 100 Most Inspiring Novels, a PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick and Britain's favourite gay/lesbian novel from The Big Gay Read
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Originally serialised in the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1970s, Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City afforded a mainstream audience of millions its first exposure to straight and gay characters experiencing on equal terms the follies of urban life.
Among the cast of this ground-breaking saga are the lovelorn residents of 28 Barbary Lane: the bewildered but aspiring Mary Ann Singleton, the libidinous Brian Hawkins; Mona Ramsey, still in a sixties trance, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver, forever in bright-eyed pursuit of Mr. Right; and their marijuana-growing landlady, the indefatigable Mrs. Madrigal.
Hurdling barriers both social and sexual, Maupin leads them through heartbreak and triumph, through nail-biting terrors and gleeful coincidences. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.
About This Edition
About Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin is the author of Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You, Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener. The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette. Maupin lives in San Francisco with his husband, Christopher Turner.
More About Armistead Maupin
