The Serial

The Serial: A Year in the Life of Marin County (often referred to as The Serial) is a satirical novel about Marin County, California, written by Cyra McFadden. Beginning in 1976, the book's chapters had been serialized in the Marin County alternative weekly newspaper, Pacific Sun. It was first published in book form in 1977.

The book deals with life in the mid-1970s in Marin County, a suburban and affluent county just north of San Francisco.

The book was popular at the time of its initial publication. It has since been out of print for several years in the United States. It was reprinted in the United Kingdom by Prion Humour Classics in 2000 and as an apostrophebooks.com e-book in 2013.

A film version of the book, called Serial, was released in 1980 and starred Martin Mull and Tuesday Weld. It was received with limited critical praise and did not perform well at the box office.

Plot summary

The Serial is divided into 52 short chapters. It chronicles the lives of a group of residents of Marin County, mostly in their mid-to-late 30s and early 40s. The plot revolves around Harvey and Kate Holroyd, a couple in the midst of the mid-1970s Marin County lifestyle who are undergoing marital problems, with many other characters introduced in the book.