MARY ANN AUTUMN (Tales of the City, 8)

I was totally absorbed into the Tales of The City when Armisted first released his series of books about 28 Barbary Lane. I got to know the family that surrounded Anna Madrigal and of course the leading man in in Michael (Mouse) Tolliver. The adventures, the lives, the personalities all came to life and jumped clear off the page into one's imagination. We visited the "family" on six different occasions and loved and cared for each of the people we knew. Michael's love life was of particular resonance to me as a gay man in a similar age group to him. Then we got to see Michael in later life in Michael Tolliver Lives. Again we fell for the easy going romantic that is Mouse. Now we have a chance to engage with him again. This time with his love Ben and the quirky and slightly mixed up Mary Anne. This time Mary Anne is in the spotlight as she struggles with her fight with cancer and the departure from her marriage with what appears a slightly abusive man. We feel for Mary Anne as she rediscovers some of the friends she knew in San Francisco. Michael, the ever loyal friend just picks her up and provides her with the safety she so needs at this time. We find out that DeDe Halcion is now happily married to the woman she has made her life partner. No longer the flightly socialite, but a more grounded and mature friend to Mary Anne. We also meet some of the "off-spring" from the heady days of the 70s in Barbary Lane. In particular Shawna the estranged daughter that Mary Anne had…

Once I started reading Mary Ann in Autumn, I devoured it in two days, because I was hungry, starving in fact for Maupin's genius for making his characters and plot come to life. As part of the Tales Of the City series of novels, many characters were old friends I'd met before each with their on charming quirks that made them so human. With this novel and the sequels that preceded it in this series, Maupin has given authenticity to the lives of characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered as well as to those who are their allies. The heroine of this piece is one of those allies, Mary Ann Singleton, who has been a fixture in these novels from the beginning. We haven't seen or heard from her in awhile, but she comes roaring back and wins our hearts all over again. The plot of Mary Ann in Autumn has everything, mystery, intrigue, romance. Maupin is a master at writing conversations. The conversations in fact often take the most mundane of incidents and transform them into the deepest and most touching moments. If you've read all of the other books in the series, your enjoyment of the mystery and intrigue you find in this new installment will only be enhanced, but if Mary Ann in Autumn is your introduction to the Tales, don't worry. You'll be sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what is going to happen next just like the rest of us. Another thing that endears the reader to the characters you meet here is that Maupin endows each of them with their…