Sue Townsend Books in Order
23 books are credited to Sue Townsend, published between 1982 and 2017; 1 of them appeared after Sue Townsend's death in 2014. The first book is The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three Quarters: The Play (1982) and the newest is Adrian Mole: The Collected Poems (2017). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 23
- Published
- 1982–2017
- Pages on record
- 4,319 in 19 of 23 books
- Reading time
- 72–108 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,319 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 19 of 23 titles with a page count on record.
Adrian Mole, the teenage diarist, is Sue Townsend's creation. Townsend (1946-2014) was an English humorist whose work took in novels, plays and journalism. Writing privately from age 14, Townsend made a name in theatre first, and Adrian Mole debuted on radio. In the 1980s the Mole books outsold every other work of fiction in Britain, and the series grew to 9 diary-form books, starting with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 (1982). The Queen and I (1992) began a second series.
How many Sue Townsend books are there?
Sue Townsend has 23 books, released between 1982 and 2017. 1 of them were published after Sue Townsend's death in 2014. They include 2 series and 10 titles listed outside any series.
Sue Townsend Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 23 Sue Townsend books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three Quarters: The Play1982 · 106 pages · confirmed 1/419821061/4
- 21982–1/4
- 3The Great Celestial Cow1984 · 80 pages · confirmed 1/41984801/4
- 41984–1/4
- 519863421/4
- 6Rebuilding Coventry1988 · 155 pages · confirmed 1/419881551/4
- 719891761/4
- 8Ten Tiny Fingers, Ten Tiny Toes1990 · 56 pages · confirmed 1/41990561/4
- 91991–1/4
- 101992831/4
- 1119931821/4
- 12Ghost Children1997 · 191 pages · confirmed 1/419971911/4
- 1319993901/4
- 14The Public Confessions of a Middle-aged Woman2001 · 368 pages · confirmed 1/420013681/4
- 1520012831/4
- 16Number 102003 · 277 pages · confirmed 1/420032771/4
- 1720043321/4
- 182005641/4
- 1920063301/4
- 2020094041/4
- 21The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year2012 · 436 pages · confirmed 1/420124361/4
- 22True Confessions of Margaret Hilda Roberts Aged 14 ¼2013 · confirmed 1/42013–1/4
- 23Adrian Mole: The Collected Poems2017 · 64 pages · confirmed 1/42017641/4
Sue Townsend series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
- Adrian Mole books in order 10 books
Sue Townsend books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Queen and I in order
2 booksChap in order
1 bookStandalone books
10 books10 Sue Townsend titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Sue Townsend books in order?
You only need to read Sue Townsend books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Sue Townsend
Start with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 (1982), the first Adrian Mole book. The earliest catalogued title overall is The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three Quarters: The Play (1982).
What is the newest Sue Townsend book?
Adrian Mole: The Collected Poems (2017) is the newest Sue Townsend book released so far.
Is there a new Sue Townsend book coming?
No next Sue Townsend book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Sue Townsend at a glance
- Died
- Sue Townsend died in 2014, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Sue Townsend are still being published after Sue Townsend's death in 2014; the newest appeared in 2017.
- Release pace
- Sue Townsend books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 4,319 pages across the 19 of 23 books with a recorded length, a median of 191 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Sue Townsend books, 7 of 23, were published in the 2000s.
What the Sue Townsend books are about
20 of the 23 Sue Townsend books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: humor is tagged on 10 of 20. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Humor 10 of 20 books
- England 8 of 20 books
- Mole, adrian (fictitious character) 6 of 20 books
- Adrian Mole (Fictitious character) 5 of 20 books
- Diaries 4 of 20 books
- Drama 4 of 20 books
- Social life and customs 4 of 20 books
- Diary fiction 3 of 20 books
- Teenage boys 3 of 20 books
- Adolescence 2 of 20 books
- Man-woman relationships 2 of 20 books