The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13

British adolescent angst has never been so “laugh-out-loud funny” as in this first encounter with a sharp-witted pining and achingly honest underdog (The New York Times).  Perhaps when I am famous and my diary is discovered people will understand the torment of being a 13¾-year-old undiscovered intellectual.   Adrian Mole is approaching fourteen and like all radical intellectuals he must amass his grievances: His acne vulgaris is grotesque; his crush Pandora received seventeen Valentine’s Day cards; his PE teacher is a sadist; he fears his parents’ marriage is over since they no longer smoke together; his dog has gone AWOL; no one appreciates his poetry; and Animal Farm has set him off pork for good. If everyone were as appalled as Adrian Mole it would be a better world.   Introducing “one of literature’s most endearing figures”: a luckless adolescent of great expectations and dwindling patience who knows all—or believes he does—and tells all (The Observer). First published in 1982 Adrian’s chronicle of angst has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide spawned seven sequels and been adapted for television and staged as a musical. Here’s where it all began.