We cringed during her dating escapades, rejoiced when she met the man of her dreams, sighed when she nearly lost him (and became embroiled in a drug conviction). Now, in the much highly anticipated third edition of the Bridget Jones’s series, Mad About The Boy, we share Bridget’s grief as a widow.
Don’t worry, this is not a spoiler, as in Helen Fielding’s latest cult novel the story begins with a 51-year-old Bridget revealing that Darcy – her husband and father to her two children – died five years earlier. While the man we cheered her on to marry may have passed away, Bridget, the clumsy but loveable protagonist, is still the same. She still worries about her weight, debates over having that extra glass of vino and questions her love life – we can still identify with her. In fact, for the cougars out there the book actually sees Bridget meeting a 30-year-old toy boy on social media.
Bridget with Darcy in the 2001 movie
However, despite the new adventure, which smacks of a typical Bridget caper, for some fans that isn’t enough, with many claiming they are devastated that the ideal fairy tale was too short-lived. With so many fans expressing their anger on Twitter, complaining about Helen’s decision to kill off Darcy, they’ll be glad to hear that Cleaver is still in the picture as her children’s “naughty godfather”.
The original book of the series was released 17 years ago, with the sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason published three years later. In 2001, a film adaptation starring Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones, Hugh Grant as womanising Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth as Darcy, was released. Renee received an Oscar-nomination for her role. In 2004, the sequel hit the big screen, but it was not met with critical acclaim. And with fan furore regarding Mad About The Boy, the third instalment might not even make it to the cinema.
With many of the fans questioning the surprising twist the author, Helen, who is 55 and has two children with her estranged husband, claims the book is definitely not autobiographical.
Those who want to know what happened to the love of Bridget’s life will have to wait until Mad About The Boy is published on October 10. In the meantime here are some top dating tips from the forthcoming hit:
- Always be classy. Never crazy.
- Be on time.
- Do not obsess or fantasise.
- Respond to what is actually going on, not what you wish was going on.
- Don’t text when drunk.
