Now in her 90s, Anna is feeling the need for some childhood closure. So, while half the usual crew head to the Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, Anna travels back to the town of Winnemucca, where she grew up as a boy named Andy.
Why she needs closure is gradually revealed through flashbacks (mostly unobtrusive) interspersed among the various dramas and adventures of the former residents of Barbary Lane.
There's a lot of revision of the earlier eight books. However, as one of the characters says when explaining the complicated dynamics of the main characters, ''it makes more sense if you've lived it''. It definitely makes more sense if you've read the other books. (I've read the first five and I was in the dark at times.)
This is a more mature Tales of the City story, concerned with ageing and mortality as well as reinforcing the familiar theme that one's ''logical'' family (one found and chosen) is just as good, if not better, as a biological family.
It's also fast-moving, irreverent, political and full of the in-jokes and cultural references that make Maupin's books both current and dated at the same time. This final tale is one for the fans.
- Laura Hewson is an ODT subeditor.
