Bridget Jones's Diary (Picador Classic, Band 48)

It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting 'Cathy' and banging your head against a tree.

Bridget Jones's Diary documents Bridget's struggles through the social minefield of her thirties - the merits of being a singleton versus a smug married, the advantages of wearing a see-through top to work, and how to handle her crazed match-making mother. Through it all she is supported by four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay. Is this a dazzling urban satire of modern relationships? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?

Bridget Jones's Diary was first published in 1996 and applauded by critics from Salman Rushdie to Jilly Cooper. A number-one bestseller, it has sold over fifteen million copies worldwide and has become an indisputable modern classic.

'Helen Fielding is one of the funniest writers in Britain and Bridget Jones is a creation of a comic genius' Nick Hornby

'Any woman who has ever had a job, a relationship or indeed a mother will read it and roar' The Times