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Mona of the Manor
- Tales of the City, Book 10
- Narrated by: Mara Wilson
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
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Mona of the Manor
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Mona is the eccentric Lady of Easley House, running a bed and breakfast to keep her inherited English manor afloat.
Wilfred is Mona's 26-year-old adopted son who spends his weekends in London, looking for love in the gay bars of Soho while pining after his pen pal, Michael 'Mouse' Tolliver.
The current guest of the manor is Rhonda, a straight-laced southern belle who has left her abusive husband and has no idea what to do next, especially in the company of the free-spirited Mona and Wilfred.
Mona of the Manor, the tenth self-contained Tales of the City chronicles, is a sharply witty comedy about identity, assumptions and finding a logical family in 1980s Thatcherite Britain.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Mr. D. Reeves
- 11-03-24
A lovely chance to visit old friends
A nice addition to the TotC series. A pleasure to revisit much loved characters.
Sadly though, the narrators generalised one size fits no one English accents are awful. Actually worse than Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
Truly terrible and surely there must be American actors out there who can do accents. I feel
mean saying this but it spoiled the book for me (good work on the American characters though).
Historical note - yes, we had safer sex tables on the Heath, but nowhere near the play spaces (it intimidates people). Handed out condoms (not “Jonnies” 😆) and lube to those on the way in, and safer sex literature to those leaving for home.
“Willy” is not a term that would be used in a sexual situation 😆 as it’s more used by children than adults.
Can’t remember using a candelabra, but it does sound like something some of the volunteers would have loved to do. I hope we did.
The tree you mention is still there and still in action, especially during the long hot summer nights.
Loved the detail of the scene back then (especially the old style bar layout at Comptons). Neat detail and thanks for researching this.
Hoping a new story follows this, and soon.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mofanning
- 08-04-24
Time with old friends
Very much a book for those familiar with the full Tales of the City series. As a standalone, it doesn’t work. That’s likely not the intent. Slightly annoying where narrator calls Poppy Polly on occasion, but overall enjoyable … if short and slight of story. One for the fans. I am a fan.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- philip lobatto
- 23-03-24
Mona of the Manor
Absolutely loved every chapter. Excellent writing as usual, and very well read. A great srory
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John Logan
- 23-05-24
Lovely book, but distracting performance
Long time Armistead Maupin fan. Loved the book, but had to stop listening as the narrator’s British accent was terribly distracting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- spencear
- 07-04-24
A comfortable blanket
Returning to the characters from the long Tales of the City books, was like coming home. Mapping moves the story alone without the reader having to have read previous entries (although, that wouldn't hurt), as there are enough call backs to update new readers and reward those who have been long time fans.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MR R.
- 16-05-24
Interesting accents!
Great to be back with these characters, but the mistakes in the book and strange narration were jarring. One chapter they were in Worcestershire, the next Gloucestershire, people’s names changed and the wrong accent was done for the wrong character. Was the narration rushed, or partly AI? Gorgeous setting though.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ricardo
- 17-03-24
Refreshing story and old favorites
Loved the story lines and it was a good end to the tales of the city series. The American narrator should have avoided the attempt at a British accent though
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- the typist
- 08-03-24
An all too brief glimpse back at this iconic series
This a slight, sweet addition to the TOTC series. After a very slow start it finally picks up in the last third and cements itself as a welcome addition to Maupin’s magical world. Despite very little happening to his beloved characters & a disappointing lack of insight to Mona’s story as a whole, it still contains those wonderful Tales touches… quirky locations, eccentric queer lives & a little bit of twisted darkness. Now can we have Michael Tolliver in his dotage, back at Barbary lane running the house in his 70s… a fitting close to the series, surely ;)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Bunting
- 18-03-24
So good to be with old friends once again
Such a great tale, while catching up with dear friends we’ve not heard of for a while. Such a joy. X
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- tweedy
- 23-03-24
Not what I expected
I’m a massive fan of the Tales of the City series and Maupin’s other writings. I really wanted to love this new story. I just couldn’t get into it. So as not to put off others, I’ll leave it at that, as it could just be me.
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