Armistead Maupin

Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the CityThe 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.

"An extended love letter to a magical San Francisco."--New York Times Book ReviewThe novel that spawned the beloved and enduring Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin's groundbreaking and hugely successful San Francisco saga--now available as a special Harper Perennial Olive Edition.For almost four decades, Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City has blazed a unique trail through popular culture--from a groundbreaking newspaper serial to a classic novel to a television event that entranced millions around the world. The first of nine novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane, Tales of the City is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that forever changed the way we live.Harper Perennial Olive Editions are exclusive small-format editions of some of our bestselling and celebrated titles, and feature unique hand-drawn cover illustrations. All Olive Editions are available for a limited time only.

'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____________________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.

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.

In honor of Pride Month, Ablaze present three titles spotlighting LGBTQ+ themes, characters, and creators. In Red Lightning: On the morning of January 10, 2016, thirty-year-old Samuel is ready to leave the house and live another day of his ordinary existence. But, as soon as he arrives on the street, he learns about David Bowie's death. The news strikes him so hard that he is stunned, and his are not moments of bewilderment, but hours, days, years, and centuries...he finds himself catapulted across space and time. He awakens hundreds of thousands of years later, in a society of the future, the year 200016. In Tales of the City: Anna Madrigal runs a boarding house at 28 Barbary Lane, San Fransico. She welcomes people who have nowhere else to go: the misfits. This matriarch is known for her unending kindness and her superb marijuana crop. The novel starts with the arrival of Mary Ann Singleton, a prudish, naive, young woman who escaped her dull Ohio hometown. She settles in with her other fellow tenants: Michael "Mouse," a personable young gay man, Brian Hawkins, an incorrigible Don Juan, and Mona Ramsey, a young hippyish bisexual. In A Man’s Skin: Tackling universal themes such as gender, sexuality, LGBTQ+, compassion, religion, and morality through a captivating and subtle fable, Hubert and Zanzim brilliantly question our relationship to gender and sexuality... but not only that. By mixing religion and sex, morality and humor, nobility and outspokenness, A Man's Skin invites us both to the liberation of morals and to the mad and noble quest for love.

The sixth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga.‘Maupin's adeptness at fluid dialogue, his flair for shaping characters who thread the needle between pop archetypes and singular human beings… are all on display’ New York Times____________________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. Caught in the middle is their longtime friend, a gay man whose own future is even more uncertain. Wistful and compassionate yet subversively funny, Sure of You is Armistead Maupin’s addictively entertaining observation on family, friendship and every relationship in between.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. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.