I left Brussels for Ireland back in 2014. I did not realize that a short stint as a postdoc would lead to a Research Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin. During that time, I made some wonderful friends who were surprised that, as a 💅, I had never read the Tales of the City books by Armistead Maupin. I had heard of “Les Chroniques des San Francisco” in the past, but underestimated their cultural significance. Thanks to Patrick and Patrick, I DEVOURED those books. Also, I feared having my fruit card revoked. These books made my trip to San Francisco in 2019 even more magical. While the “last” book in the series came out in 2014, it had been lying in my stack for a long, long while. Maybe I should transform my queue into a priority queue… Anyhow, I digress.

I loved every page of The Days of Anna Madrigal. Unlike other books written by the author, the end is kind of bittersweet; but I won’t spoil why I find it as such. Because of this, the end had a more significant impact, fitting for a last book in the series’ timeline. I also gasped when I figured out who Dustpuppy was! Maupin has a knack for casually dropping some callbacks. I wonder how many readers figured that out. I’m looking forward to reading Mona of the Manor, but I have no idea how long that will take.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐