Helen Fielding was a television journalist for the BBC with one unpublished novel under her belt (later published as Cause Celeb) when she landed a weekly column in the Independent. She decided to cheat a little and write the column, not in her own voice, but in the voice of a calorie-counting, cigarette-obsessed, dating-impaired, aging everywoman named Bridget Jones. Her editors could hardly complain. Though seemingly frivolous, the column was an immediate hit. But while Bridget worried her way through painful weight fluctuations and hundreds of carefully rationed cigarettes, Fielding began work on a second novel, a brainy satire about economic problems in the Caribbean. At the suggestion of her publisher, though, she made one of those decisions that define a career: she turned this serious satire about economic problems in the Caribbean into a book-length treatment of the neurotic star of her Independent column. Bridget Jones's Diary did passably well in hardcover, but when it was released in paperback in 1997, the book took off, remaining on UK bestseller lists for over six months and successfully introducing a number of words into the language: singleton, smug-marrieds, fuckwittage, etc. Apparently, Bridget had struck a chord. Now an official "phenomenon," she made her way across the Atlantic and became an equally huge sensation in the States.

However, though delighted readers were clambering for more, many assumed Bridget to be a one-hit wonder. How could Fielding possibly write another Bridget Jones book without wearing the joke painfully thin? Her answer, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, has proved one of the most successful sequels of recent years. Though it begins in typical Bridget style —

Monday 27 January 129 lbs. (total fat groove), boyfriends 1 (hurrah!), shags 3 (hurrah!), calories 2,100, calories used up by shags 600, so total calories 1,500 (exemplary)

— Fielding's second Bridget installment follows her heroine through new obsessions (this time it's keeping a man rather than snagging one) and onto entirely new terrain, including death threats, Thai jails, a nasty blonde nemesis, and — could it be? — spirituality. As always, Bridget's forays and fixations strike straight to the heart of contemporary culture. As the Evening Standard has said, "Bridget Jones is no mere fictional character, she's the Spirit of the Age." Heaven help us. Farley, Powells.com

With another devastatingly hilarious, ridiculous, unnervingly accurate take on modern womanhood, Bridget Jones is back. (v.g.)

Monday 27 January

"7:15 a.m. Hurrah! The wilderness years are over. For four weeks and five days now have been in functional relationship with adult male, thereby proving am not love pariah as recently feared."

Wednesday 5 March

"7:08 p.m. Am assured, receptive, responsive woman of substance. My sense of self comes not from other people but...from...myself? That can't be right."

Lurching from the cappuccino bars of Notting Hill to the blissed-out shores of Thailand, everyone's favorite Singleton Bridget Jones begins her search for The Truth in spite of pathetically unevolved men, insane dating theories, and Smug Married advice. She experiences a zeitgeist-esque Spiritual Epiphany somewhere between the pages of How to Find the Love You Want Without Seeking It (can self-help books really help self?), protective custody, and a lightly chilled Chardonnay.

"One of the most enchanting heroines to ever overdraw her bank account." USA Today

"How can a reader not love this woman — not in spite of her faults but because of them?" A. M. Gates, The New York Times Book Review

"Glorious...a sequel that outshines its predecessor." San Francisco Chronicle

"Bridget Jones is a joy and comfort, and Helen Fielding is bloody great." Mademoiselle

Now in paperback, the self-disciplined and glacially poised Bridget is back with another year's worth of unflinching self-analysis, as she lurches through self-help books, struggles with mad advice from her best friends, and deals with a boyfriend-nabbing ex-friend with thighs like a baby giraffe.

Helen Fielding is the author of Bridget Jones's Diary, which spent seventeen weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, was a number-one bestseller around the world, and became a hit movie.

She lives in London and Los Angeles.