Marking 25 years since the creation of the Bridget Jones character for a column in The Independent newspaper, author Helen Fielding opens up her personal archive for the very first time to tell the story of how Bridget Jones’s Diary came to be.  We meet Helen’s friends and family who inspired many of the characters and interview the stars of the hugely successful film adaptations, Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.

Being Bridget Jones

<p>This is the funniest book of the year. It is the new Bridget Jones novel. 8.45 P.M. Realise there have been so many times in my life when have fantasised about going to a scan with Mark or Daniel: just not both at the same time. Before motherhood, before marriage, Bridget, with biological clock ticking very, very loudly, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant at the eleventh hour: a joyful pregnancy which is dominated, however, by a crucial but terribly awkward question - who is the father? Mark Darcy: honourable, decent, notable human rights lawyer? Or Daniel Cleaver: charming, witty, notable fuckwit? 9.45 P.M. It's like they're two halves of the perfect man, who'll spend the rest of their lives each wanting to outdo the other one. And now it's all enacting itself in my stomach. In this gloriously funny, touching story of baby-deadline panic, maternal bliss, and social, professional, technological, culinary and childbirth chaos, Bridget Jones - global phenomenon and the world's favourite Singleton - is back with a bump.</p>