It occurred to Wren, not for the first time, that Mrs Madrigal enjoyed a good conundrum. Even at this age, with all her cards seemingly on the table, she liked being a woman of mystery. ‘Winnemucca,’ said Anna, as if the answer were patently obvious. … ‘Okay, then where did Anna Madrigal come from?’

For his finale, Maupin takes us to the 92-year-old Anna Madrigal’s back-story and how she came to acquire her name. These were mature stories, where we met Mouse and Mary Ann again as older characters, who looked back and examined their lives and the consequences of their choices. As much as I have enjoyed the whole series, I felt that Maupin’s writing moved up a notch with Michael Tolliver Lives and Mary Ann in Autumn. As well as chronicling the LGBTI community, Maupin covers the culture wars, the Reagan era, the Jonestown massacre, AIDS and a lot more. He has created a series of wonderful characters and plots, with a love of coincidence equal to the work of Dickens. Over the decades Maupin has also chronicled a lifestyle movement he has helped shape modern homosexual thought with his understanding of the emotional links that dispossessed LGBTI people forge to support one another through their unorthodox families. He has helped us all to understand the building of the alternative blended family. Loyal readers of the previous eight novels will look forward to seeing what has been going on since they last caught up with Mouse, Mary Ann and Mrs Madrigal. People connect to the world and the characters that Maupin has created. This is true for many readers – of all the books that I have been reading and reviewing, this one drew the most response and interest when I talked about it on Twitter. These characters have been with me for many years, since I first read the earlier books in the series. I found myself emotionally entangled: twice I had to put the book down and think through what I had read before I could return to the story. I savoured the reading and the comfort of catching up with old friends I have not sat down with for a while. The Days of Anna Madrigal brings the Tales of the City to a highly satisfactory and emotional close. With beautiful symmetry, this novel brings Tales of the City back to where it all began. Tags: American fiction/ Armistead Maupin/ Tales of the City ARMISTEAD MAUPIN The Days of Anna Madrigal.

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