From Powells.com
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Fielding was a television journalist for the BBC with one unpublished novel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
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"One of the most enchanting heroines to ever overdraw her bank account." USA Today
Review
"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
Review
"Glorious...a sequel that outshines its predecessor." San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
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.