Adrian Mole

Adrian Mole is the fictional diarist and protagonist of Sue Townsend's bestselling comic novel series.

Adrian Mole is one of the great comic characters in British fiction. Created by Sue Townsend in 1982, he is an ordinary English teenager who keeps a diary that reveals far more about himself than he intends. Adrian believes he is an unrecognized genius, a great poet, and a figure of romantic tragedy. The reader knows better, and that gap is where all the humor lives.

Over thirteen books, Townsend followed Adrian from adolescence into middle age. He grows up, has children, gets married and divorced, worries about his health, and never once stops being convinced that the world has failed to appreciate him. Millions of readers in the UK and beyond have followed along, making Adrian one of the most beloved fictional characters of the past fifty years.

Reading Order

See the complete Adrian Mole reading order for all books in the series.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Adrian Mole?

Adrian Mole is a fictional character created by Sue Townsend. He is an English everyman who keeps a diary from the age of 13 onward, recording his thoughts on love, family, and world events with total sincerity and very little self-awareness.

What makes Adrian Mole funny?

The humor comes from the gap between how Adrian sees himself and how the reader sees him. He considers himself an intellectual and a poet, but his diary entries reveal a hapless, self-absorbed person who consistently misreads every situation.

How old is Adrian Mole across the series?

Adrian ages in real time across the series. He starts as a 13-year-old in The Secret Diary (1982) and is middle-aged by The Prostrate Years (2009), covering roughly 27 years of his life.

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