Tales of the City
10 primary works • 18 total works
Book 1
NAMED AS ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 MOST INSPIRING NOVELS
Now a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
'It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco.' Oscar Wilde
Mary Ann is twenty-five and arrives in San Francisco for an eight-day holiday.
But then her Mood Ring turns blue.
So obviously she decides to stay. It is the 1970s after all.
Fresh out of Cleveland, naive Mary Ann tumbles headlong into a brave new world of pot-growing landladies, cut throat debutantes, spaced-out neighbours and outrageous parties. Finding a job as a secretary at an ad agency, Mary Ann wants to start her own life, away from her parents and with the flower-power freedom to make her own friends and her own decisions.
The saga that ensues introduces vignettes that are manic, romantic, tawdry and touching - unmistakably the handiwork of Armistead Maupin.
Book 2
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
'May well be the funniest series of novels currently in progress' THE TIMES
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The divinely human comedy that began with Tales of the City rolls recklessly along . . .
Michael Tolliver pursues his favourite gynaecologist.
Mona Ramsey uncovers her roots in a desert whorehouse.
And Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with the amnesiac of her dreams.
Book 2
Book 3
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
'Maupin is a richly gifted comic author' Observer
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The residents of 28 Barbary Lane are back again in this racy, suspenseful and wildly romantic sequel to Tales of the City and More Tales of the City.
DeDe Halcyon Day and Mary Ann Singleton track down a charismatic psychopath.
Michael Tolliver looks for love.
Landlady Anna Madrigal imprisons an anchorwoman in her basement storeroom.
And Armistead Maupin is in firm control . . .
Book 4
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
'As engaging a read as you are likely to encounter in many moons' The Times
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The characters that filled the pages of the three earlier Tales of the City books with love and laughter are at it again.
An ordinary house-husband and his ambitious wife discover there's more to making a baby than meets the eye.
Unexpected help arrives in the form of a British monarch, a grieving gay neighbour, and an international ring of mail-order brides.
Armistead Maupin has written a comedy of manners for our times.
Book 5
Book 6
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
'San Francisco is fortunate in having a chronicler as witty and likeable as Armistead Maupin' Independent
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In this, the sixth and final self-contained volume of Armistead Maupin's epic chronicle of modern life, a fiercely ambitious TV talk show host finds she must choose between national stardom in New York and a husband and child in San Francisco.
Wistful and compassionate yet subversively funny, Sure of You is a triumphant finale to one of the most addictively entertaining series of novels ever written.
Book 7
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
This is a novel about the act of growing older joyfully and the everyday miracles that somehow make that possible.
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Maupin revisits his all-too-human hero, Michael Tolliver, letting the 55-year-old gardener tell his story in his own voice.
Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times.
We follow the protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally reaffirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady.
And many familiar faces from the Tales of the City series make appearances along the way . . .
Book 8
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
Sassy, irreverent and curious, Maupin continues to explore the boundaries of the human experience with insight, compassion and mordant wit.
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Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York.
Now, a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, a gay gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.
Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes.
Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to re-engage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her speckled past comes back to haunt her in a way she could never have imagined.
Book 9
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Soon to be a Netflix series starring Ellen Page and Laura Linney . . .
'One of the most acclaimed sagas of our time . . .A celebration of life in all its craziness' The Times
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Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane, she embarks on a road trip that will take her deep into her past.
Now ninety-two, and committed to the notion of "leaving like a lady," Mrs. Madrigal has seemingly found peace with her "logical family" in San Francisco: her devoted young caretaker Jake Greenleaf; her former tenant Brian Hawkins and his daughter Shawna; and Michael Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton, who have known and loved Anna for nearly four decades.
Some members of Anna's family are bound for the otherworldly landscape of Burning Man, the art community in Nevada's Black Rock Desert where 60,000 revelers gather to construct a city designed to last only one week.
Anna herself has another destination in mind: a lonely stretch of road outside of Winnemucca where the 16-year-old boy she once was ran away from the whorehouse he called home.
With Brian and his beat-up RV, she journeys into the dusty troubled heart of her Depression childhood to unearth a lifetime of secrets and dreams and attend to unfinished business she has long avoided.
Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.
Episode 1: Taking the Plunge
Newly arrived from the Midwest, Mary Ann Singleton finds refuge at 28 Barbary Lane. Mona warns Mrs Madrigal about her naive new tenant and DeDe gets jealous.
In which a heartbroken Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver arrives at Barbary Lane. DeDe takes an unusual delivery and Anna Madrigal reveals a piece of her past.
Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal.
Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.
It's Christmas at Barbary Lane where DeDe's happiness is short lived, Mrs Madrigal says goodbye to a friend and Mary Ann makes a shocking discovery about her neighbour.
Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal.
Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.
In which Mary Anna volunteers at the Crisis Switchboard whilst Mouse has a crisis of his own. DeDe visits a fat farm and Mona makes a surprising discovery about Barbary Lane.
Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal.
Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.
Tales of the City Episode 5: Trick or Treat in Suburbia
by Armistead Maupin
In which DeDe returns from the fat farm looking, and feeling, fabulous. The infamous Jockey Shorts dance competition has unexpected consequences and Mona has suprise visitor from her past.
Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal.
Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.
In which Mona loses her job and DeDe attends a less-than-polite society lunch. Michael bumps into an attractive gynaecologist on the skating rink and finds a famous conductor at the steam rooms.
Welcome to Tales of the City. San Francisco 1976: a golden city of freedom, adventure and possibility. But, as naïve small-town girl Mary Ann finds out, it can be hard to find your place in a strange new city - especially when the supermarket is a pick up joint and a Jockey Shorts dance contest can make or break a relationship. Luckily for Mary Ann, she finds the perfect home at 28 Barbary Lane where the dysfunctional residents form an unconventional family of waifs and strays. Mona the cynic, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver the romantic looking for love and DeDe the jaded debutante, all watched over by the eccentric and mysterious Anna Madrigal.
Get addicted to these characters in six short, funny and heartbreaking episodes.
'A breeze' The Times
‘Delightful comedy of manners' iPaper
‘A welcome tenth instalment of his iconic Tales Of The City saga’ Mail on Sunday
‘A witty novel about identity and finding a family in 1980s England’ Woman&Home
'The message still shines out in the new book: find the people who love and understand you' The Scotsman
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The tenth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga.
When Mona Ramsey married Lord Teddy Roughton to secure his visa—allowing him to remain in San Francisco to fulfil his wildest dreams—she never imagined she would, by age 48, be the sole owner of Easley House, a romantic country manor in the UK. Now, with her adopted son, Wilfred, Mona has opened Easley’s doors to paying guests to keep her inherited English manor afloat.
As they welcome a married American couple to Easley, Mona and Wilfred discover their new guests’ terrible secret. Instead of focussing on the imminent arrival of old friend Michael Tolliver and matriarch Anna Madrigal, Mona will need to use her considerable charm, willpower and wiles to set things right before Easley’s historic Midsummer ceremony.
Hurdling barriers both social and sexual, Maupin leads the eccentric tenants of Barbary Lane through heartbreak and triumph, through nail-biting terrors and gleeful coincidences in 1980s San Francisco and beyond. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.