
Tales of the City
American novelist, born 1944.
Tales of the City is a 1978 novel by Armistead Maupin.
In comic novels and satire, LGBTQ+
On 2 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Armistead Maupin
- First published
- Book 1978; serialised from 1974
- Length
- 352 pages (UK paperback)
- Genre
- Comic novels and satire, LGBTQ+, Class and society
- Series
- Book 1 of Tales of the City
Is Tales of the City worth reading?
2 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it: 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts) and The Great American Read (PBS).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019) | Listed | See the list |
| The Great American Read (PBS, 2018) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Tales of the City
The edition we link to is the Penguin paperback (2024), 352 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin (paperback, 2024)
- Pages
- 352
- ISBN
- 9781804994252
How critics, prizes and readers rate Tales of the City
Readers and critics rate it about equally: it earned 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists and 10% on critics' lists, against 0% on prize lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Tales of the City
If you liked Tales of the City, try Scoop, A Confederacy of Dunces or Bridget Jones's Diary.



