SOURCE: "City of the Plain and Not So Plain," in Spectator, Vol. 264, No. 8431, February 10, 1990, pp. 31-2.

Waugh, the daughter of English novelist Evelyn Waugh, is an English editor, critic, and novelist whose works include Kate's House (1983). In the following review, she examines the Tales novels, focusing on character and theme.

Armistead Maupin started his fictional—and mainly homosexual—saga of life and times in San Francisco in the Seventies and Eighties as a contemporary serial in the San Francisco Chronicle. In all, there are six novels chronicling the sexual connections and life-styles of the original cast of characters and their friends. Now, the last of these, Sure of You, and the first three, in an omnibus volume, have been published [in Great Britain]. For those who become insatiable fans, the other two are also available (Significant Others from Chatto & Windus, and Babycakes from Black Swan). The novels span...