Mona of the Manor: A Novel (Tales of the City #10)
Description
“Maupin is one of America’s finest storytellers.”—Neil Gaiman
Set in the early 1990s, the long-awaited tenth novel in Armistead Maupin’s beloved and enduring Tales of the City series follows the adventures of Mona Ramsey, now the widowed Lady of a glorious old manor in Britain’s golden Cotswolds, and her fabulous adopted son Wilfred, as they come to the aid of an American visitor with a troubling secret.
When Mona Ramsey married Lord Teddy Roughton to secure his visa—allowing him to remain in San Francisco to fulfill his wildest dreams—she never imagined she would, by age 48, be the sole owner of Easley House, Teddy’s grand, romantic country manor in the UK. She also didn't imagine that she’d need to open the manor’s doors to paying guests to afford the electric bill and repair the leaking roof. Yet somehow she and her young friend Wilfred--whom guests assume is serving as Easley’s charming-but-clumsy butler--and the loopy old gardener Mr. Hargis, are making it work.
This delicate equilibrium is upended when Americans Rhonda and Ernie Blaylock arrive for a weekend vacation at Easley, and Wilfred stumbles onto their terrible secret. Now, instead of being able to focus on the imminent arrival of her old friend Michael Tolliver and beloved parent Anna Madrigal, Mona will need to focus all of her considerable charm, willpower, and wiles—and the help of Wilfred and Mona’s girlfriend Poppy, the town’s postmistress and local calligraphy whiz—to set things right before the Midsummer ceremony when the whole town will descend on Easley’s historic grounds.
Praise for Mona of the Manor: A Novel (Tales of the City #10)
A Good Housekeeping "Book We're Most Looking Forward To" —
"Maupin is a peerless visionary who created a queer community of friends decades ago and is still at the top of his game with this funny, endearing, and totally captivating literary escapade.... Fifty years in, the 'Tales of the City' series continues, and this novel is as charming, witty, and magical as its predecessors." — Library Journal (starred review)
"Pure Maupin. The fans rejoice." — Kirkus Reviews
"Catnip for Maupin fans" — Booklist
“Perhaps the most sublime piece of popular literature America has ever produced… As with the Beatles, everyone seems to like Maupin’s Tales - and, really, why would you want to find someone who didn’t?” — Salon
“A cultural touchstone ... Seen at last in its entirety, ‘Tales of the City’ remains an immensely readable accomplishment that wears its significance lightly…. Entertains, illuminates and ― as always ― leaves us wanting more.” — Washington Post
“These novels are as difficult to put down as a dish of pistachios. The reader starts playing the old childhood game of ‘Just one more chapter and I’ll turn out the lights,’ only to look up and discover it’s after midnight.” — Los Angeles Review of Books
“Seriously moving… [Many decades] into the series, Maupin’s writing remains wildly addictive but is deeper and richer.” — People
“An enormously talented writer… Armistead Maupin always manages to capture what’s so hilariously painfully true for all of us.” — Amy Tan
“A consummate entertainer who has made a generation laugh.... It is Maupin’s Dickensian gift to be able to render love convincingly.” — Edmund White, Times Literary Supplement
