The publishing world is atremble. Having recovered from the excitement of Dan Brown’s Inferno launch, eyes are now firmly on the release of The Next Big Sensation, which, it is hoped by publisher Jonathan Cape, will be Helen Fielding’s new novel Mad About the Boy, out in October of this year (presumably, the title is based on Noel Coward’s beautiful song, made famous by jazz vocalist Dinah Washington).

There’s no doubting that Bridget Jones’s Diary changed the face of women’s literature – some will argue, it is the ultimate ‘chick lit’ book, and certainly for many women it embodied the struggles they were encountering at that time in their lives.

It has been a long hiatus (nine years) since the last book, The Edge of Reason. Helen Fielding said of the gap in an interview for Radio 4’s Women’s Hour: ‘I sort of lost my voice with Bridget for a long time after the  unexpected success when it first came out. It was very easy to write and to be honest, then I got all self-conscious.’

But at last, an idea eventually struck. The new book is in diary format again, and the publishers have shared the following extract:

Wednesday 24 October 2012

11.27 p.m. Just presss d SEND. Iss fineisn’t it?

You see, this is the trouble with the modern world. If it was the days of letter-writing, I would never even have started to find his address, a pen, a piece of paper, an envelope, a stamp, and gone outside at 11.30p.m. to find a postbox. A text is gone at the brush of a fingertip, like a nuclear bomb or exocet missile.

DATING RULE NO:1

DO NOT TEXT WHEN DRUNK

I wonder just how much the digital revolution will feature in the new book. Twitter. Facebook. Texting. How these means of communication have transformed the modern romance!

What would you like to see in the new Bridget Jones novel? Here’s my wish list:

• A more self-confident Bridget with less body image concerns
• Plenty more funny mishaps
• A frank and meaningful exploration of what it is to be a woman in love today
• A fulfilling career for Bridget
• Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver (of course!)

A new Bridget Jones film entitled Bridget Jones’s Baby is in development, according to media reports, but not at a point where filming can begin. There is media speculation over who will play Bridget in that film and if one is made of the forthcoming book, but I don’t think I am alone in thinking surely only Renee, Colin and Hugh can top the bill. Especially Colin…

I for one am very much looking forward to the release of the book, and I’ll be sure to review it on the website.