Helen Fielding on Bridget Jones, Kings Place

Bridget Jones needs no introduction. Whether you think her a modern-day heroine flying the flag for ordinary, rough-round-the-edges women everywhere or, with her shambolic, slapstick tendencies and boyfriend-hunting preoccupations, the worst hit to feminism since Page Three, the fact is this wine-guzzling, chain-smoking, weight-obsessed singleton is now firmly embedded in our popular culture.

And now, almost twenty years after her arrival, Bridget’s creator Helen Fielding has brought her back for a third outing, and she will be joining Professor John Mullan at the Guardian Book Club on December 4 to discuss the incarnation and legacy of this now legendary comic character.

In Mad About the Boy, Bridget is a fifty-something mother of two who, having strived for so long to bag her very own Mr Darcy, is now widowed – to the dismay of many – and back on the market, busy negotiating Twitter and online dating. A happy ending is not forever it seems, even in this genre.

The reviews may have been a little patchy, but stalwart fans will be eager to hear what Fielding herself has to say in response. In bringing us Bridget, Fielding almost single-handedly kick-started an entire genre, for good or ill, and she will no doubt have plenty of light to shed on how and why she created Bridget in the first place, why her appeal – and controversy – endures and why oh why she decided to kill off Mark Darcy…

Ticket price: £9.50–£11.50