The only biography of Sue Townsend, one of the greatest diarists in the English language and the creator of Adrian Mole.

'None of the teachers at school have noticed that I am an intellectual. They will be sorry when I am famous'
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1982) by Sue Townsend, who left school at 14¾

And what a remarkable woman she was. In the late seventies, Sue Townsend was a youth and community worker in Leicester, and a young single mother, writing her creation on the side. Adrian Mole was a sensation from the very beginning. The books have a unique combination of laugh-out-loud moments, pseudo-intellectualism and biting satire, covering 30 years of British history.

As Sue became more successful, she never lost her political commitment, her hatred of the Thatcherite politics that she felt had decimated her community, or her kindness. Townsend's writing – though extremely funny – was often really about the parlous state of the NHS, feminism, racism, and poverty in working class communities during her lifetime. And much of what she said remains relevant today.

This biography of Sue – the first – draws on never-before-seen material, which cleverly weaves Sue in with her creation (she often said she was Adrian) and places her firmly where she belongs – alongside Swift, Wilde and Peter Cook – as one of Britain's greatest satirical writers.