Mona of the Manor
A Novel
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The vivacious energy of San Francisco invades the English countryside in this lovingly crafted novel from Armistead Maupin. It’s 1993, and out-and-proud Bay Area lesbian Mona Ramsey has received a surprise inheritance from her late green-card-husband Teddy (a gay English lord). She now owns Teddy’s huge, dilapidated estate, which she and her surrogate son, Wilfred, are running as a B&B. But when American couple Rhonda and Ernie check in, they bring something Mona can’t tolerate under her roof: abuse. If you’re already a Tales of the City lover, appearances by Mona’s beloved parent Anna Madrigal and dear friend Michael Tolliver will feel extra special. And if this is your first, get ready to fall for this long-running feel-good series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Maupin's satisfying 10th Tales of the City novel (after The Days of Anna Madrigal) transports his familiar bawdiness from San Francisco to the English countryside. It's 1993, and Rhonda and Ernie Blaylock, a conservative couple from North Carolina, discover their vacation rental in the Cotswolds to be more ramshackle than advertised. The owner, Mona Ramsey, a 48-year-old American widow featured in Maupin's previous novels, inherited the house from her marriage-of-convenience husband. She skirts financial ruin while managing the property with brusque honesty and general carelessness alongside her charming but clumsy 26-year-old adopted son, Wilfred, who is Aboriginal Australian, gay, and single. When Rhonda confesses to Mona and Wilfred that Ernie beats her, mother and son hatch a scheme to hide her on the premises and tell Ernie she's run off. Side plots involve Mona's tenuous relationship with the local postmistress, Rhonda grappling with the homophobia conditioned in her by her upbringing, and Wilfred's frustrated attempts to find a boyfriend. All the Maupin hallmarks are in place, including a righteous conviction that conservative viewpoints are immoral and stupid, diverse queer characters, fade-to-black sex scenes, and a fun if silly plot. Fans of the series will relish this heaping plate of comfort food.
