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Doubleday signs new Tales of the City novel from Maupin with new series design unveiled
Doubleday has acquired a new Tales of the City novel from Armistead Maupin entitled Mona of the Manor, with the whole series to be republished under new livery to coincide with the new volume.
Mona of the Manor, scheduled for publication in March 2024, is the 10th self-contained novel in the Tales of the City chronicles, a “sharply witty comedy about identity, assumptions and finding a logical family”, based in post-Thatcherite Britain.
Bill Scott-Kerr, publisher at Transworld, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Amanda Urban at ICM via Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown.
He said: “There is no series in contemporary literature which summons a time and a place as perfectly as the Tales of the City series. Charming, funny, insightful, gossipy, courageous, Maupin created a sequence of books in his own image and so defined a generation. That he was able to do so across a vast array of characters, all of whom managed to be likeable even when they were behaving despicably, is a tribute to his artist’s eye and his poet’s heart.
“But he was the most modest of pioneers – no one popularised gay literature like he did and made it appeal to a broader audience. There is nothing niche about these novels – they changed people’s lives; they changed the way people thought; and they gave people hope in darker times.
“That we have a new novel in the sequence to publish next year is cause for celebration. That we have the chance to republish its predecessors and introduce them to a new audience who may be unaware of the debt we all owe Armistead is a huge privilege. I am excited to get these wonderful books out there and remind readers just how books really can change lives, and be decent, kind and wise as they do so.”
Transworld is planning a major launch including “broad-reach media and a significant events programme” to coincide with publication.
