Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rebuilding Coventry | 1988 | Sue Townsend | Buy |
| 2 | Ghost Children | 1997 | Sue Townsend | Buy |
| 3 | Number 10 | 2003 | Sue Townsend | Buy |
| 4 | The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year | 2012 | Sue Townsend | Buy |
| 5 | True Confessions of Margaret Hilda Roberts Aged 14 ¼ | 2013 | Sue Townsend | Buy |
Outside the Adrian Mole and Queen series, Townsend wrote several standalone novels that show different sides of her talent. Rebuilding Coventry (1988) is a darkly comic road novel about a woman on the run. Ghost Children (1997) is her most serious book, dealing with difficult subject matter in a way that surprised readers used to her lighter work.
Number 10 (2003) returned to political satire, while The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year (2012) became a late-career hit. That book’s premise is pure Townsend: a middle-aged woman decides she has had enough and simply stays in bed, while the world reacts around her. It was one of her funniest and most warmly received novels.