Bridget Jones navigates social media in new novel

Bridget Jones is returning and this time she has a new No. 1 dating rule: "Do not text when drunk."

Fourteen years after British author Helen Fielding released the last instalment in the story of Bridget Jones, a single woman navigating relationship pitfalls in 1990s London, she’ll bring back her comic character in a new book titled Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

Publisher Random House announced the title and release date – Oct. 24 – on Tuesday.

Fielding first began writing about Bridget’s single life in London’s Independent newspaper in 1995 and released her first novel, Bridget Jones’ s Diary in 1996.

In the 1990s, Bridget was obsessed with her weight, her sputtering career and her relationships with Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy.  The new instalment sees a new Bridget, now struggling with social media.

"Bridget's life has moved on," Fielding says. "But, the question is, just how much?  Well, here is what we can share: the novel is set in present-day London; Bridget is older; she is still keeping a diary, but she is also immersed in texting and experimenting with social media, with an accent on ‘social.’"

An excerpt released Tuesday shows Bridget breaking her rule not to text while drunk.

"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."

The Bridget Jones novels sold more than 15 million copies and were published in 40 countries. Both were adapted into blockbuster films starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth.

There were rumours about a third film, reportedly to be titled Bridget Jones's Baby, but it apparently never got beyond the script stage.

Fielding will be touring North America in October in support of her new book.