After a 13-year leave of absence, Bridget Jones is coming back, according to author Helen Fielding. The character made famous by the British writer's novels, "Bridget Jones's Diary," and "The Edge of Reason," will return in a third book due in fall 2013.
Just why did Fielding abandon her popular character for so long? "I think I sort of lost my voice in terms of Bridget, for a long time after the unexpected success when it first came out," Fielding revealed in a recent interview on the U.K. radio show "Women's Hour" Nov. 9.
"The new novel is set in present-day London, with an entirely new scenario for Bridget," Fielding continued. "If people laugh as much reading it as I am while writing it then we'll all be very happy."
"Bridget Jones's Diary" started life as a weekly column in British newspaper The Independent in 1995, charting the life of a 30-something "singleton" in London in the 1990s. The column was subsequently adapted into a novel published in 1997, becoming a huge international bestseller. As was its sequel, "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," in 1999. The novels were adapted into hugely popular films in 2001 and 2004, starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.
Both Bridget Jones novels have been published in 40 countries and have sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
A third Bridget Jones film has long been in the works. Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant have all signed on for the project which would reportedly follow Jones having a baby. The new book, however, will not follow the upcoming movie's plotline, Fielding told the radio program.
The new book will have a slightly different focus, opening each chapter with Bridget's tweets, rather than her diary entries. "It's more like 'number of Twitter followers: 0. Still no followers. Still no followers.' But she has grownup. My life has moved on and hers will move on too... She's still trying to give up [drinking and smoking], she's still on a diet. She's trying a bit harder, and is a bit more successful, but she's never really going to change," said Fielding.
Fielding admitted in the interview to becoming fascinated by the Internet dating world, and by how much technology has changed modern romance. Perhaps those elements could filter into her attempt to update Jones for the 21st Century.
"In the same way as the first Bridget book was looking at the way a 30-something single woman was branded as a tragic spinster, and then we got the new idea of a singleton, [the new book] will be looking at later phases in life when you get branded as a certain thing," she said, "and you don't have to be that at all and it's all outdated and ridiculous."
With scores of other "chick-lit" novels dominating bestseller lists, Fielding's publisher is likely thrilled to have her back writing a character adored the world over.
"Great comic writers are as rare as hen's teeth," said Fielding's publisher Dan Franklin.
"Helen is one of a very select band who have created a character, Bridget, of whom the very thought makes you smile. Like millions of others I can't wait to see what's happened to her," he said.