Laurie Sparham/Universal Studios Renée Zellweger as the title character in a scene from “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.â€It has been some 14 years since Bridget Jones last put pen to paper (or fingertips to a keyboard) to record her weight, her caloric intake and her shags in her celebrated diary. Now that celebrated, self-deprecating literary protagonist (and sometime alter ego of the author Helen Fielding) will return in her first novel since the publication of “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.â€
A new Bridget Jones novel written by Ms. Fielding, whose popular nespaper column for The Independent of London spawned the best-selling novel “Bridget Jones’s Diary†and a sequel, “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,†will be released by Alfred A. Knopf in November, the publisher said on Tuesday.
A title for the new book was not immediately announced, but the publisher said in a news release that it would take place in present-day London and “represents a totally new phase in Bridget’s life.†“My life has moved on,†Ms. Fielding said in a statement, “and Bridget’s will move on, too.â€
Sonny Mehta, the Knopf chairman and editor in chief, said in a statement: “Few writers can rival Helen Fielding when it comes to fully capturing the modern woman. Her writing is both funny and heartfelt, and her observations about life are piercing and mordantly rendered. I have been waiting a long time to see what’s next for Bridget Jones, and I am beyond thrilled that she’! s back.â€
“Bridget Jones’s Diary,†published in 1996, and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,†published in 1999, have sold more than 15 million copies in 40 countries, Knopf said. They were adapted into movies starring Renée Zellweger as the title character and Hugh Grant and Colin Firth as her romantic rivals Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy.
Knopf said that Ms. Fielding would appear as a breakfast speaker on BookExpo America in New York on June 1, ahead of the release of the new novel.
(There was no immediate comment from Ms. Zellweger.)
