I've never experienced a greater sense of recognition than when reading The Secret Diary

Townsend's writing is still a delight, Adrian's poetry is still dreadful, and his sense of self-importance is still hilarious

I not only wept, I howled and hooted and had to get up and walk around the room and wipe my eyes so that I could go on reading

Very funny indeed

Townsend has held a mirror up to the nation and made us happy to laugh at what we see in it

Every sentence is witty and well thought out, and the whole has reverberations beyond itself

One of the great comic creations

A classic. The Adrian Mole diaries are thoroughly subversive. A true hero for our time

Adrian Mole is one of literature's great underachievers; his tragedy is that he knows it and the sadness of this undercuts the humour and makes us laugh not until, but while, it hurts

The funniest person in the world

Hame is a sweet and quaint novel, full of just-in-time revelations and obvious fondness.

Hame is an ambitious and multi-layered tome… McAfee’s attention to detail is remarkable. She covers great swathes of history and goes to enormous lengths to flesh out even minor characters… McAfee’s deadpan humour means much of the book is wryly amusing.

If Hame often comes over like a more cheerful version of a Sarah Moss novel, it’s also sneakily political at a time when a hard Brexit dangles the prospect of a Great British break-up… Be careful what you wish for – or at least how you wish for it – seems to be the message; but while Hame’s pivotal revelation first lands with the force of a raspberry blown in the face of nationalism, it’s typical of the novel’s generosity that it finally feels like more of a kiss.

A clever patchwork blanket of narratives… It’s very convincing, despite being entirely fictional.

Gorgeous

Partly a gentle satire and partly a genuine celebration of Scotland written by the London-born daughter of Scottish parents, Hame is written with wit and intelligence.