Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Mona of the Manor

  • Tales of the City, Book 10
  • By: Armistead Maupin
  • Narrated by: Mara Wilson
  • Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)

$0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Mona of the Manor cover art

Mona of the Manor

By: Armistead Maupin
Narrated by: Mara Wilson
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Tales of the City cover art
Bumps in the Road: A Memoir cover art
I Was Better Last Night cover art
Radiant cover art
One Last Song cover art
Fellow Travelers cover art
A Clock Stopped Dead cover art
Glitterland cover art
Janey cover art
The Swimming Pool Library cover art

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.

©2024 Armistead Maupin (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Transform your day

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Listen everywhere

Listen everywhere

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Carry your entire Library

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Listen and learn

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Reach your reading goals

Reach your reading goals

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Find your niche

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for £0.00 £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

What listeners say about Mona of the Manor

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    24
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mona of the Manor

Absolutely loved every chapter. Excellent writing as usual, and very well read. A great srory

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mupins use of English profanity 💚

Emigrating to the UK from the United States has been invested into the crafting of this new instalment of “Tales of the City” I’m so happy to be back with Mona and her Logical Family.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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 ;)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!