What book should everybody read before the age of 21?
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It’s a primer in human decency.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t?
Well, I was warned but I didn’t listen. “Go Set a Watchman,” the so-called “sequel” to “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is a muddy mess, in which Atticus Finch devolves into an old-school racist that my own father would not have found objectionable.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
There was a vibrant bohemian culture in San Francisco in the 1860s. Part of it was a response to artists fleeing from the Civil War, which was raging on the East Coast. The community was fascinating, including an actor who some have called a trans man, and other queer figures.
What kept you from returning to the “Tales of the City” universe?
Actually I’ve quit several times over the years. The first time was after “Sure of You” (1989) when Michael Tolliver tested positive for H.I.V. In those days that was a certain death sentence, and I was determined not to write a novel in which the gay man dies at the end. When the new drug regimens came along, I wrote “Michael Tolliver Lives” (2007) to celebrate long-term H.I.V. survivors. Three novels followed, and I expected “The Days of Anna Madrigal” in 2014 to be the last. Five years later, my husband, Chris, and I moved to England and Mona was feeling neglected, so I picked up where “Babycakes” (1984) left her, living in an English manor house.
What’s your favorite book set in a manor house (aside from your own)?
Dodie Smith’s “I Capture the Castle” enchanted me as a teenager and still works its charms when I pick it up. Sweet eccentrics living penniless in a grand old house. It had a definite influence on “Mona of the Manor.”
Do you think a reader could jump into “Mona of the Manor” without having read the earlier books? What do they need to know?
Like all the “Tales,” “Mona” is designed so the reader begins at the beginning. You don’t have to know anything about the other books in order to read this one, although if you’re a fan of Mona from earlier books you’ll probably get more out of it.
How do you sign books for your own fans?
Just my name and their name and a personal inscription when I feel inspired. I don’t take dictation.
Do you think (or write) differently about your characters now that they’ve been brought to the screen by actors?
Laura Linney’s spot-on portrayal of Mary Ann Singleton was so indelible that she lived in my head when I wrote the later novels. There were plenty of fine actors in the series, but Laura really brought my vision to life.
Is this the last “Tales” novel, and if so, what are you working on next?
Yes, this is the last in the series. There are 10 of them, and that has a nice symmetry to me. I am currently working with my husband on a historical fiction novel about a real-life 19th-century gay writer who was born in 1843, and lived in San Francisco. Like me, he wrote pieces for The Chronicle. He was influential to some very notable people and lived an amazing life, including traveling to far-flung places and having at least one epic romance on his adventures. I’m enjoying exploring the queer culture that existed during the mid-19th century, before homophobic laws and ideas began to rule the day, like the Labouchere Amendment in Britain, enacted in 1885.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
Neil Gaiman, Andrew Sean Greer and Patrick Gale. These are all dear friends whose writing I admire immensely. If there’s going to be a ghost in the room, I would ask for Christopher Isherwood, who I feel sure would enjoy their company.
What do you plan to read next?
“The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray.
