''The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole, Margaret Hilda Roberts and Susan Lilian Townsend'' is the third

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

in the Adrian Mole series, written by

Sue Townsend Susan Lillian Townsend, FRSL (née Johnstone, 2 April 194610 April 2014), was an English writer and humorist whose work encompasses novels, plays and works of journalism. She was best known for creating the character Adrian Mole. After writing ...

. It focuses on the worries and regrets of a teenage (supposed) intellectual. The title is long and often shortened to the more convenient ''The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole'' but the three names are part of the full title and represent fictional (or otherwise) actual content of the book. The book covers the same themes as the first volumes although it differs in style from the other books. There are short collections of Adrian's classic diary entries covering important events over a brief period of a few days (such as Christmas, Adrian leaving home, Adrian's first job etc.) during the mid-1980s, but the continuous regular diary entries from the other books are absent. There are also several longer transcripts of radio programmes on

Pirate Radio Four ''Pirate Radio Four'' was a magazine show broadcast on the VHF/FM frequencies of BBC Radio 4 in 1985 and 1986. Part of the station's drive to attract younger listeners, it was broadcast during the mornings in the school summer holidays and was aim ...

, plus collections of letters and correspondence with characters from the earlier books, including Barry Kent, who is in prison. This format means that it covers a longer time span than any other Adrian Mole book at the expense of some detail. The book also contains extracts from Sue Townsend's own diaries together with some of her essays, plus a collection of entries from an unknown teenage girl's diary written in the 1930s in

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

. Townsend suggests that the girl was called Margaret Hilda Roberts and no one knows what became of her, although most readers will spot that this is a strong and bitter satire about

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

(Margaret Hilda Roberts was her maiden name). Townsend originally created this satire in the first few issues of the newspaper ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'', as ''The Secret Diary of Margaret Hilda Roberts Aged 13''. The Adrian Mole section was subsequently published as part of the omnibus edition '' Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major''.

References

1989 British novels British young adult novels Novels set in Leicestershire Novels set in the 1980s Adrian Mole novels Methuen Publishing books {{1980s-ya-novel-stub