Bridget Jones fans have been left shocked after discovering author Helen Fielding has killed off the lovable Mark Darcy.
Extracts from the new book in the Bridget Jones’s Diary series, Mad About The Boy, reveal that Bridget and Mark Darcy married and had two children but he dies, leaving Bridget to raise the children alone and putting her back on the singles’ market.
The novel comes 15 years after the last books in the series were published, which left the lovable characters Bridget and Mark in a happily-ever-after scenario.
The extracts, which have been published in the Sunday Times Magazine, don’t reveal how Darcy dies, but tell the story of Bridget five years after his death, meeting a new 30-year-old toy boy, Roxster, on Twitter.
“Crucially, it might put Roxster off me, to be surrounded by old people at a 60th birthday party and make some sort of completely unnecessary point about how old I am, though of course I am MUCH younger than Talitha. And frankly, I refuse to believe how old I actually am,” Helen writes, in one extract.
The revelations have come as a shock to fans, who have taken to social media to voice their opinions.
Sabrina Medora wrote, “I understand an author has the right to do as they please with their books. But SERIOUSLY, Helen Fielding??? WHY???”
While Katy Tafoya wrote: “You can’t just go off and kill Mark Darcy! Bridget Jones doesn’t need a damn boy toy.”
Helen’s first two books sold more than 15 million copies and were made into Hollywood blockbuster films starring Renee Zellweger as Bridget and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy.
What do you think of the auther’s choice to kill off Mark Darcy? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.