reading

ADRIAN MOLE AND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Praise for the Adrian Mole series

‘Thank goodness for his steadfast loyalty to Pandora… Three cheers for his chaotic, non-achieving, dysfunctional family… We need him’ Evening Standard

‘One of the great comic creations… I can’t remember a more relentlessly funny book… Three cheers: Ashby de la Zouch is back on the literary map – and the Cappuccino Years is quite possibly a classic’ Daily Mirror

‘Mole has entered his kingdom… he presents a quizzical, innocent, frustrated perspective on the unlovely face of cool Britannia… Townsend manages it by dint of superb jokes and an underlying political and social seriousness as she skitters brilliantly over the surface of contemporary life’ Sunday Times

‘One of literature’s most endearing figures. He is an excellent guide for all of us as we wander through the cappuccino years’ Observer

‘Made me laugh very loudly on public transport, which is about the only real criterion for funny writing’ Independent on Sunday

‘The publishers could offer a money back guarantee if you don’t laugh and be sure they wouldn’t have to write a single cheque’ Jeremy Paxman, Sunday Herald

‘Adrian Mole has progressed from being a minority enthusiasm to something like a national figurehead… Sue Townsend has done more than write a comic series descended from Just William. She has held a mirror up to the nation and made us happy to laugh at what we see in it’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Enormously funny’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A very, very funny book’ Sunday Times

‘A classic. The Adrian Mole diaries are thoroughly subversive. [He is] a true hero for our time’ Richard Ingrams

‘Funny, moving and a poke in the eye for adult morality’ Sunday Express

‘Written with great verve, and showing an uncanny understanding of the young. Sue Townsend holds the balance between innocence and precocity and the result is both hilarious and salutary’ Daily Telegraph

‘Life’s no fun for an adolescent intellectual. For the reader it is a hoot’ New Statesman

‘The new book takes up the diary where the last left off, and is quite as classic’ Financial Times

‘The funniest, most bitter-sweet book you’re likely to read this year’ Daily Mirror

‘I not only wept, I howled and hooted and had to get up and walk around the room and wipe my eyes so that I could go on reading’ Tom Sharpe

‘Marvellous, touching and screamingly funny… set to become as much a cult book as The Catcher in the Rye’ Jilly Cooper

‘[Adrian Mole is] one of the great comic creations’ Daily Mirror

‘The author’s accuracy and comic timing left me wincing with pleasure’ New Statesman

‘Wonderfully funny and sharp as knives’ Sunday Times

‘Mole still makes me laugh and laugh’ Daily Express

Praise for The Queen and I

‘Laugh-out-loud funny’ Sunday Telegraph

‘No other author could imagine this so graphically, demolish the institution so wittily and yet leave the family with its human dignity intact’ The Times

‘Absorbing, entertaining… the funniest thing in print since Adrian Mole’ Ruth Rendell, Daily Telegraph

‘Kept me rolling about until the last page’ Daily Mail

Praise for Public Confessions of a Middle-aged Woman Aged 55¾

‘I want to be this funny. I want to be as funny, witty, sceptical and as unrepentantly cynical as Susan Lilian Townsend’ The Journal

‘Proof, once more, that Townsend is one of the funniest writers around’ The Times

‘Anyone who loved The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole will enjoy this collection of witty and sharply observed jottings from the inimitable Sue Townsend. Great stuff from a master of British satire, observation – and prose’ OK!

‘Sue Townsend is eloquent, wise and above all full of fun… whether she’s happy, nostalgic or just plain angry, her wit and honesty make her an unmissable read’ Sainsbury’s Magazine

‘It’s as if Townsend has caught our idiosyncrasies on candid camera and is showing a rerun of all the silly clips’ Time Out

‘What a fantastic advertisement for middle age – it can’t be bad if it’s this funny’ Heat

‘Townsend has such a witty way with words that it makes her consistently amusing… a welcome addition to any bookshelf’ Hello!

‘Townsend is every woman’s favourite Everywoman’ Good Housekeeping

Praise for Number Ten

‘Hilarious. Sue Townsend’s laughter is infectious’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A wickedly entertaining and passionate swipe at New Labour’ The Times

‘There is a gem on nearly every page. Nothing escapes Townsend’s withering pen. Satirical, witty, observant… a clever book’ Observer

‘Poignant, hilarious, heart-rending, devastating’ New Statesman

‘A delight. Genuinely funny… compassion shines through the unashamed ironic social commentary’ Guardian

‘She has unrivalled claim to be this country’s foremost practising comic novelist’ Mail on Sunday

‘As ever with Townsend, her brilliance lies in her simplicity… It’s a great comic novel, this tale of two Britains, and should be on the bedside tables of Downing Street’ Independent

‘Townsend is one of our finest living comic writers… This is a wickedly entertaining and passionate swipe at New Labour’ The Times

‘No Townsend novel can fail to entertain… fans will find a smile on every page’ Sunday Times

‘Brilliant satire. Very contemporary, a bit controversial and loads of fun’ Daily Mirror

‘Few writers have the wit and powers of observation to write a humorous political satire but Townsend’s story of PM Edward Clare is spot on’ Sunday Mirror

‘Politicians beware’ Daily Mail

‘Convincing and amusing’ Daily Express

‘A brilliantly perceptive state-of-the-nation address’ Red ‘Hilarious’ Heat

‘A marvellously funny read’ Family Circle

Sue Townsend

ADRIAN MOLE AND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Contents

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

ADRIAN MOLE AND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Acknowledgements