Bridget Jones 3 Shocker: Why It's Better For The Story

We’re used to music leaking before a release, but buyers are a little less used to major spoilers being revealed before a new book hit the market. As the last sentence notes, this article is going to contain a huge reveal concerning Helen Fielding’s new book in the Bridget Jones canon, so if you don’t want to know anything, turn back now. Since I am not used to book spoilers, I thought little of heading on over to The Sunday Times article previewing a segment from her upcoming novel, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. As it turns out, the segment delivered a shocker. Darcy has died, leaving Bridget a widow with two children…and, she’s dating a boy toy named Roxster.

It’s really difficult to process both halves of the above sentence, so let’s start with the first one. At the beginning of Mad About the Boy, we will find out that Bridget Jones had two children, Mabel and Billy, with Mr. Darcy before he up and died prior to the start of the novel. She’s had some time to mourn and now, at age 51, she has taken up dating a 29-year-old.

If the thought of Mr. Darcy dying doesn’t bother you in the least, there should be a lot of juicy fiction in Mad about the Boy. In the Sunday Times segment, Jones talks about not knowing whether or not her short romance will pan out, but she is thinking of blowing off her pal Talitha on her birthday in order to spend time with Roxster. I get the feeling there will be a lot of these sorts of decisions to ponder over within the context of the novel.

Honestly, Bridget Jones is not particularly interesting without men and calories to consume her. Settling into a happy marriage and watching her count calories while she balanced the checkbook and cooked dinner for her kiddos doesn’t sound like a book anyone would want to read, and I wager Fielding felt the same way. Otherwise she wouldn’t have killed off her leading man. And widow Bridget Jones sort of still has some of the same old awkward charm and sex appeal, although her life has changed a lot. Which is perfect since Fielding wrote the last Bridget Jones novel in 1999. A lot should have changed, and fans of the feisty feminine lead should appreciate that, even if they are a bit bummed that life didn't pan out exactly as they imagined.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is expected to hit the market on October 10 in the U.K. and on October 15 in the U.S. You can pre-order the title over at Amazon. Additionally, we'll keep you posted about the status of the third Bridget Jones movie, here.

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