Tales of the City

A Novel

Armistead Maupin

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780062421081
• eBook ISBN:
  9780062112392
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

The first novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s bestselling San Francisco saga, and inspiration for the Netflix original series, Tales of the City

“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

For almost four decades Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City has blazed its own 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 ten novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane, Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed forever the way we live.

Table of contents

• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Taking the Plunge
• Connie’s Place
• A Frisco Disco
• Her New Home
• Love with the Proper Shopper
• Connie’s Bummer Night
• The Employment Line
• Enter Mona
• The Ad Game
• Edgar Blows Up
• Anguish in Bohemia
• The Wrath of DeDe
• The Landlady’s Dinner
• Rendezvous with Ruby
• The Boy Next Door
• The Matriarch
• Stranger in the Park
• Relating at Lunch
• A Piece of Anna’s Past
• Mona’s New Roomie
• Their First Date
• Off to Mendocino
• Brian Climbs the Walls
• Post-mortem
• Coming Clean in the Marina
• … And Many Happy Returns
• Mrs. Day at Home
• The Chinese Connection
• Confession in the Nude
• Miss Singleton Dines Alone
• Mona vs. the Pig
• Where Is Love?
• If the Shoe Fits
• Sherry and Sympathy
• The Rap about Rape
• Romance in the Rink
• Coed Steam
• Hillary’s Room
• Breakfast in Bed
• The Maestro Vanishes
• Frannie Freaks
• The Case of the Six Batons
• Back to Cleveland?
• Michael’s Pep Talk
• War and Peace
• Once More into the Breach
• Fantasia for Two
• The Mysterious Caller
• So Where Was Beauchamp?
• What the Simple Folk Do
• Intermezzo
• Vincent’s Old Lady
• The Anniversary Tango
• Bells Are Ringing
• The Landlady Bares Her Soul
• At the Fat Farm
• Michael’s Shocker
• The Family Myth
• DeDe Triumphs
• Boris Steps In
• Renewing Vows
• The Man on the Roof
• The Ol’-Time Religion
• Child’s Play
• What Are Friends For?
• The Beach Boys
• Ebony Idol
• D’orothea’s Lament
• The Winner’s Circle
• Fiasco in Chinatown
• Starry, Starry Night
• The News from Home
• A Place for Strays
• Hanging Loose
• Nightcap
• Words of Comfort
• The Clue in the Bookshop
• Mona Moves On
• At the Gynecologist’s
• The Diagnosis
• The Tollivers Invade
• Trick or Treat in Suburbia
• Chip off the Old Block
• DeDe’s Growing Dilemma
• Mrs. Madrigal and the Mouse
• The Shadow Knows
• How to Cure the Munchies
• The Hungry Eye
• Trauma in a Travel-Eze
• And Baby Makes Three?
• Ties That Bind
• New York, New York
• Full Moon in Sea Cliff
• Norman Confesses
• What D’or Won’t Tell Her
• Michael’s Visitor
• Three Men at the Tubs
• Cruising at The Stud
• She Is Woman, Hear Her Roar
• The Doctor Is In
• Not Even a Mouse
• Enigma at the Twinkie Factory
• Anna Crumbles
• The Baker’s Wife
• Old Flames
• A Lovers’ Farewell
• Edgar on the Brink
• Breaking and Entering
• At the Grove
• Art for Art’s Sake
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
• The Confrontation
• The Party
• Saying Good-bye
• The Golden Gate
• Afterword by the Author
• P.S.: Insights, Interviews & More…
• Excerpt from The Days of Anna Madringal
• About the Author
• Praise for Armistead Maupin
• Books by Armistead Maupin
• Back Ad
• Credits
• Copyright
• About the Publisher