Mary Ann in Autumn - (Tales of the City) by Armistead Maupin (Paperback)

About the Book

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 gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.

Book Synopsis

Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City

The eighth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin's best-selling San Francisco saga.

Following the success of his New York Times bestseller Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin's Mary Ann in Autumn is a touching portrait of friendship, family, and fresh starts, as the City by the Bay welcomes back Mary Ann Singleton, the beloved Tales of the City heroine who started it all. A new chapter begins in the lives of both Mary Ann and Michael "Mouse" Tolliver when she returns to San Francisco to rejoin her oldest friend after years in New York City... the reunion that fans of Maupin's beloved Tales of the City series have been awaiting for years.

From the Back Cover

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 gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.

More than three decades in the making, Armistead Maupin's legendary Tales of the City series rolls into a new age, still sassy, irreverent, and curious, and still exploring the boundaries of the human experience with insight, compassion, and mordant wit.

Review Quotes

"Mary Ann in Autumn is a return to form...The resulting book is a heart-warming and life-affirming tale that should please fans as well as those new to the series...[Maupin's books] continually remind us that we are all connected." - Chicago Sun-Times
"Mary Ann slips right back into the warm, bantering world of [Armistead Maupin's] earlier books. All his kale-eating, sustainable-gardening, Snuggie-joke-making characters are familiar, even if this is your first go-around with them." - New York Times
"Maupin cranks up the hijinks and sharpens the social commentary. . . . Fasten your seatbelts, Tales fans. It's going to be a bumpy, but entertaining ride." - USA Today
"Maupin's quirky yet engaging characters still speak to him." - Los Angeles Times
"This novel shows the beloved characters of Barbary Lane approaching middle age and beyond with grace and thoughtfulness. . . . The charm of the Tales has not waned. . . . A must for fans, but new readers will find it an accessible entry point." - Library Journal
"Even more satisfying than Michael Tolliver Lives, [Mary Ann in Autumn] is a juicy, twisty tale that's of the moment (Facebook plays an essential role) as it takes us back to the heady days of our beloved San Francisco fantasyland." - Modern Tonic
"The graying of the Tales of the City cast won't sadden readers. This affectionate novel, with its carefully unfolding story line (and perfect ending), will work its warmth and charm." - Booklist
"No other work of fiction featuring major gay characters has been. . .so influential, as the Tales of the City books." - The SunBreak.com
"A must read for fans of the [Tales of the City] books and Armistead Maupin." - The Seattle Gay News
"Reading Mary Ann in Autumn is not just like catching up with old friends, it is catching up with them. There is no magical time warp at work here: Maupin's characters are older, and a new generation is now frolicking just as the older set once did. These are literary friends that age with you: the best sort." - Edge
"[A] resilient and enjoyable series. . ." - Seattle Times
"Fans of the [Tales of the Cities series] will be happy to climb back into the hilly city's stories. Those new to the series will also find it easy to slip into the pace of easy charm and irreverent characters in these compassionate, unordinary lives." - The Oregonian (Portland)
"Tenderhearted and frolicsome...A tale of long-lost friends and unrealized dreams, of fear and regret, of penance and redemption--and of the unshakable sense that this world we love, this life we live, this drama in which we all play a part, does indeed go by much too fast." - New York Times Book Review
"Maupin's chronicle of interconnected lives and tangled personal relations is as engaging and warmhearted as ever." - Kirkus Reviews
"Sure-to-please...Maupin's edgy wit energizes the layered story lines. His keen eye for irony and human foible is balanced by an innate compassion in this examination of the life of a woman of a certain age." - Publishers Weekly
"You don't review a new installment of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series--you rejoice in it. . . . If you are lucky enough to live in San Francisco, you know that Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, Mary Ann Singleton, and the divine Anna Madrigal are not fictional characters but dear friends and soul mates, as permanently a part of this town's heart as cable cars, the Folsom Street Fair, and Maupin himself. . ." - San Francisco magazine
"You don't review a new installment of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series--you rejoice in it...[These] are not fictional characters but dear friends and soul mates, as permanently a part of this town's heart as cable cars, the Folsom Street Fair, and Maupin himself..." - San Francisco magazine
"This sassy, irreverent book explores the boundaries of the human experience which was the hallmark of Maupin's earlier work. The main point is that Maupin has lost none of his magic and his characters remain an indelible part of our pop culture." - The Tucson Citizen