Every sentence is witty and well thought out, and the whole has reverberations beyond itself The Times One of literature's most endearing figures. Mole is an excellent guide for all of us Observer Adrian Mole will be remembered some day as one of England's great diarists Evening Standard The funniest, most bitter-sweet book you're likely to read this year Daily Mirror

Sue Townsend is Britain's favourite comic author. For thirty years, since the publication of The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole Aged 13 in 1982, she has made us weep with laughter and pricked the nation's conscience. Seven further volumes of Adrian's diaries have followed, and all have been highly acclaimed bestsellers. She has also published five other popular novels and written numerous well-received plays. She lives in Leicester, where she was born and grew up.