The Queen and I - Sue Townsend

Hubby has been a fan of Sue Townsend's many books for just as many years now, but I only began reading them a while ago. Having thoroughly enjoyed reading Hubby's 'Queen Camilla' last year the thoughtful guy bought me 'The Queen and I' this Christmas. Either that or he thought he would stop me from reading all his books. Looking at the cover it had plenty of good reviews on it and claims of 'Laugh out loud funny' and No.1 Bestseller, so what did I make of it? The Queen and I actually precedes 'Queen Camilla'. It begins in England one April, not so long ago, in fact 1992, when the Queen is laid in bed watching the General Election results. Falling asleep, ...  Read the complete review

I first came across the Queen and I as a radio adaptation in the early 90s, although probably younger than its target audience it did amuse me. Several years later when I came across a copy of the book I had to buy it and it is now a much thumbed resident of my bookshelf. The novel is a comic what if story. It all starts with the 1992 general election when the Queen's nightmare comes true and the People's Republican Party is elected. The first action of the new Prime Minister, Jack Barker, is to head to Buckingham Palace to order the Queen to abdicate. But he doesn't want simply want her to retire to luxury he wants the whole Royal Family to live like ...  Read the complete review

In a fictional 1992, the Republican Party sweeps the general election and their first act of power is to dismantle the monarchy and put the whole royal family into Midlands' welfare housing in a place known to the locals as "Hell Close". How the Winsor/Mountbatten/Teck families adjust to this new, impoverished lifestyle is the basis of Sue Townsend's novel "The Queen & I". Sue Townsend is best known for her Adrian Mole books, which are aimed – from what I understand – to the youth market. This novel, while not one that younger readers couldn't enjoy, seems to be aimed more at adults. As you can imagine, this is hardly a serious ...  Read the complete review

If there is one author guaranteed to make me laugh out loud then it has to be Sue Townsend. She has an uncanny knack of writing books that I enjoy reading so much, that the minute I have finished, I want to start reading it over again! Adrian Mole was my first introduction to Sue Townsend and her style of writing appealed greatly to me, it was informal, light and reflective or indeed, indicative of 'society' at the time. Reading the Queen and I was a pleasure from start to finish. it charts the fall and fall of the Royal Family, who are moved to a council estate after a Republican Government takes over. The story is about how the family ...  Read the complete review

The last Sue Townsend book I read was the Adrian Mole diary just the same as many other people I presume. However when I spyed "The Queen and I" nestled in a pile in a charity shop I decided to give it a go. I have to say straight off that I didn't find it as good as the Adrian Mole diaries but it did give you plenty of food for thought. Whereas the Adrian Mole diaries were stuck in the 80's, this book is well and truly in the 90's. This is a bit of a disadvantage as some things don't translate to the "00's" as well. The book is set in the future but when in the future we are not told. The Peoples Republican ...  Read the complete review