New 'Bridget Jones' Book Gets Release Date

Bridget Jones is back.

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The wildly popular, unlucky-in-love heroine of British writer Helen Fielding's novels will return this November with Fielding's third Bridget book. It will be published in the U.S. by Alfred A. Knopf, the publisher's Chairman and Editor in Chief, Sonny Mehta, announced Tuesday.

The series was inspired by Fielding's column about a 30-something single woman living in London in the 1990s. The first book, Bridget Jones' Diary, was published in 1996 and is credited with starting the chick lit phenomenon. The sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was published in 1999. The two novels have sold more than 15 million copies and are published in 40 different countries. They were adapted for the big screen into successful romantic comedies starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.   

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"My life has moved on and Bridget's will move on, too," says Fielding. "I hope people will have as much fun reading it as I am writing it."

The new novel will be set in present-day London and will show Bridget in a completely new phase in her life. 

"Few writers can rival Helen Fielding when it comes to full capturing the modern woman," Mehta says. "I have been waiting a long time to see what's next for Bridget Jones, and I am beyond thrilled she's back." 

Fielding will appear as a breakfast speaker on June 1 at BookExpo America in New York. 

The first printing in November will be 250,000 copies with an eBook and a Random House Audiobook.