Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend, 68, dies at her home in Leicester after a stroke

Townsend was born in Leicester in 1946 and left school at the age of 15
She married at 18, and by 23 was a single parent with three children
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ was published in 1982
Captivated generation of children and was adapted for TV and theatre
Mole series of books made millions for author but she gave most of it away
Townsend was writing new Mole book, Pandora's Box, when she died
She had lifesaving kidney transplant after her elder son donated a kidney
Townsend was left blind after suffering from diabetes for many years
Underwent a kidney transplant in 2009 but had a stroke at the end of 2012

Published: 19:42 EST, 10 April 2014 | Updated: 11:12 EST, 11 April 2014

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Novelist Sue Townsend, best known as author of Adrian Mole books, has died at the age of 68

Sue Townsend, best known as the author of the Adrian Mole books, has died after suffering a stroke at the age of 68.

The novelist and playwright, who died at home in Leicester, had various health problems throughout her life and had lost her sight in 2001 after complications from type 1 diabetes.

In 2009 she received a new kidney donated by her son Sean, 50 – who was said to be the inspiration behind Adrian Mole – after a two-year wait for a donor.

She leaves husband Colin Broadway, son, Sean, and her three other children Daniel, 45, Victoria, 44, and Elizabeth, 37.

It emerged today that the prolific author was working on a new Adrian Mole book, with the working title Pandora's Box, a reference to Pandora Braithwaite, Mole's love interest.

A spokesman for publisher Penguin said: 'The book was planned for publication in autumn, but we have only seen a few wonderful pages.'

It is not yet known if the unfinished work will be published.

Family friend and fellow Leicester author Bali Rai broke the news of Townsend's death on Twitter last night after speaking to her family.

Mr Rai told The Sun he had spoken to Townsend's son, Danny, who said she died at about 9pm yesterday but would not confirm she had died from a stroke.

Mr Rai tweeted: 'Just been informed by her family that my hero, @SueTownsends has passed away. Utterly shocked and saddened. An amazing woman is gone.'

He added: 'She was one of our own, and a unique voice in British literature. She will be missed... In an age of plastic idiots, she was a true role model.'

Tom Weldon, chief executive of Penguin Random House UK, said: 'Sue Townsend will be remembered as one in a handful of this country's great comic writers. We were so proud to be her publishers.

'She was loved by generations of readers, not only because she made them laugh out loud, but because her view of the world, its inhabitants and their frailties was so generous, life affirming and unique.'

Celebrity fans who were influenced by her work paid tribute to the author, led by actor Stephen Mangan, who played Adrian Mole in the TV series.

He wrote: 'Greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died. One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met.’

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Success: Townsend made a fortune from the multi-million pound copy selling Adrian Mole series of books

Townsend, pictured at home in Leicester in 1985 at the height of her fame, left school at the age of 15

Born in Leicester in 1946, Townsend left school at the age of 15, married at 18, and by 23 was a single parent with three children, a biography from her publisher, Penguin, said.

After writing in secret for 20 years while working as a factory worker, shop assistant and youth worker, she eventually joined a writers' group at the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester when she was in her 30s.

LIFE IN SUBURBAN LEICESTER: ADRIAN MOLE'S BEST QUOTES

'I have never seen a dead body or a female nipple. This is what comes from living in a cul de sac'

'After hearing the disgusting noises from downstairs last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol'

'Pandora! / I adore ya / I implore ye / Don't ignore me'

'My mother wants to move. She wants to sell the house that I have lived in all my life. She said that we will need more room 'for the baby'. How stupid can you get? Babies hardly take any space at all. They are only about 21 inches long'

'Had a note from Mr Cherry asking me when I can resume my paper round. I sent a note back to say that due to my mother's desertion I am still in a mental state. This is true. I wore odd socks yesterday without knowing it.'

At 35 she won the Thames Playwright Award for her play, Womberang, and a year later published the first in her series about Adrian Mole, which she had begun writing in 1975 while living on a Leicester housing estate.

The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 was published in 1982, to immediate success. The diary-style book was written from the point of view of a teenage boy in Leicester who believed himself to be an intellectual.

Set in 1981 and 1982, it includes many of the key historic moments of the time, including the Falklands War, the wedding of Lady Diana and Prince Charles, and the birth of Prince William, and was followed by a sequel, The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole, in 1984.

It spawned a series of eight novels which were translated into 40 languages, went on to sell 10million copies and made the author a multi-millionaire.

The two books made her the best-selling novelist of the 1980s, and were followed by six others in the Mole series, including The True Confessions Of Adrian Albert Mole and most recently Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, in 2009.

Much of Townsend's life was blighted by illness. She had a heart attack in her 30s and suffered from diabetes for many years, leaving her registered blind in 2001 and forced to resort to dictating her work.

She later wrote: 'Over the course of one weekend recently, I went three-quarters blind… There was no treatment, and my best course of action was to buy a pair of very dark glasses.’

Her publishers, Penguin Books, said Townsend, pictured in 1992, died at home 'surrounded by family'

Townsend was a single mother of three children under five by the age of 23, and began writing in her thirties

By 2009, diabetes meant she needed a kidney transplant, and her elder son, Sean, donated one of his.

Speaking in 2012, she said: 'He felt it more than I did. I'm used to having operations but he'd never been in hospital before. There was never any hesitation, though.

'I was thrilled he was going to give me his kidney, but also scared for him and truly appreciated it.'

In recent years she was left wheelchair-bound, with neuropathy in her limbs, and she suffered a stroke last year.

As well as her Mole books, Townsend also wrote a number of other novels, including The Queen And I, as well as further plays and two non-fiction books.

Several of her books were adapted for the stage, while the Mole series were adapted for radio, television and theatre. She also wrote monthly columns for Sainsbury's magazine from 1993 to 2001.

Sue Townsend, author of The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, has died in Leicester after having a stroke

Alison Steadman as Adrian Mole's mother, Pauline, and Stephen Mangan as the eponymous hero in the TV adaptation of Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (with canvassing poster of Pandora, played by Helen Baxendale)

Townsend was awarded an honorary Masters of Arts from Leicester University and in 2008 was made a Distinguished Honorary Fellow, the highest awards the university can give.

She was also an Honorary Doctor of Letters at Loughborough University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

In 2009 Townsend was given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester, and said: 'I have been a citizen of Leicester for over 62 years, most of my family and friends live here, so I was delighted when I was nominated to receive the freedom of the city.'

But despite her vast success, Townsend revealed that the fortune she made from Adrian Mole had not made her happy – and she had given most of it away. In a candid interview, she once told how she has struggled to cope with fame.

She said the depression which blighted most of her life was partly caused by a feeling of a ‘disconnect between me as the writer of Adrian Mole and me as the person I was’.

She added: ‘I felt people were disappointed when they met me. They wanted someone like Barbara Taylor Bradford in furs.’