Townsend, Sue
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1946-2014) UK author best known for the nonfantastic Adrian Mole sequence [not listed below]; of sf interest is the Satirical Queen sequence beginning with The Queen and I (1992) [see Checklist for theatrical versions], set in a Near Future republican Britain where the royal family, relocated into a council estate, must learn to cope with real life. The ex-Queen (all characters retain their historical names) does well; the ex-prince Philip does not. In the end – perhaps to avoid lèse majesté – the queen awakens from a nightmare, to find nothing had happened; however, in the sequel, Queen Camilla (2006), the tale is continued, with some inconsistencies. Ex-Queen Elizabeth continues to survive in a republican Britain which has been annexed by America; her children do rather less well. In the end, the "New Cons" win the general election, and the monarchy is restored. [JC]
Susan Lillian Townsend
born Leicester, Leicestershire: 2 April 1946
died Leicester, Leicestershire: 10 April 2014
works (selected)
series
Queen
- The Queen and I (London: Methuen, 1992) [Queen: illus/hb/Martin Honeysett]
- The Queen and I: The Play with Songs (London: Methuen, 1994) [play: first performed 23 March 1994 Haymarket Theatre, Leicester: pb/]
- The Queen and I: A Play (London: Samuel French, 1996) [play: rev of the above: pb/]
- The Queen in Hell Close (London: Penguin Books, 2005) [cut vt of the above: essentially an excerpt: pb/]
- The Queen and I: The Play with Songs (London: Methuen, 1994) [play: first performed 23 March 1994 Haymarket Theatre, Leicester: pb/]
- Queen Camilla (London: Michael Joseph, 2006) [Queen: illus/hb/]
links
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