The Days of Anna Madrigal

I first read tales of the city, when I was 17, in London, in 1989. I was new, both to the city and to being a Gay Man. London at the end of the 80’s was fascinating, scary, overwhelming and daunting. My understanding of much of the struggle for Gay Rights and explaining living with and dying from HIV and AIDS comes from these books. I wish I was a clever, witty and urbane writer that could explain all the connections, the little histories, and the immense impact this book has had on the gay community, all I can say is, these books changed my life, and changed it for the better, I know I wouldn’t be the gay man I am today if I had never found these amazing books.

Tales of the City showed me a version of a big city, where you could date men, and have a life. It showed me that gay men can love, can have compassion, both for each other and also different kinds of people, that Mrs. Madrigal was transgender just didn’t seem to matter, and to this 17 yr old kid who barely new much about his own difference at that time that was a huge revelation. And when you think that accepted gay characters in films and TV just didn’t really exist in the late 80’s, we had no Will and Grace we had no politicians who were out, in the UK all you really had were the odd soap character or camp icon, Mr. Humphries of Are You Being Served being perhaps the most famous at the time.

As you begin to read the first pages of the latest and sadly the last installment, The Days of Anna Madrigal, you are back in that world and even though none of the characters’ lives there anymore, you are of course back in a misty version of Barberry Lane. Mrs. Madrigal is now residing with another Trans Man, who is like a son or grandson, they share an unspoken bond of difference of change.

I want to tell you all about the story, what happens, to who, who shows up and how it all ends, but I can’t spoil it. I can say that Armistead Maupin has once again created a wonderfully surprising, and satisfying end to the story, it doesn’t come crashing down, it glides off into the sunset. So as you shed a tear, you also smile, its the end but it isn’t, you know the characters will move forward in their lives, you just know it. These stories have been with me for 20 years, and I know that through constant rereading, it will go on. Armistead has created a true masterpiece, it’s not a gay masterpiece, its a Masterpiece. It has shed a light on the late 20th century life at one of its most tumultuous times, yet the stories are human, and funny and warm, and silly and mad, and annoying and brilliant, just what life is, but however bad the lives of Michael, Mary Ann, Brian and Mrs. Madrigal ever was – you wanted to be there with them right by their side, smoking a joint and just being there. When I read these the books, from the first to the last, that’s where I am, and it feels magical. The Days of Anna Madrigal is available on Amazon – and at all good bookshops.