Publisher's Synopsis
A four-volume collection of romantic comedies. In 'Bridget Jones Diary' (2001), Renee Zellweger stars as the 1990s British everywoman: single, weight-obsessed, and very probably drunk on mid-price white wine. Her life goes from middling to worse when she embarks on a doomed affair with silver-tongued boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). In the background lurks a literal Mr Darcy (Colin Firth), a seemingly cold lawyer who keeps crossing Bridget's path but whose precise intentions seem hard for her to divine. All the while Bridget records her lurches across life's highway in the eponymous diary, as an attempt to take control of her tragi-comic life. In the sequel 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason' (2004), having finally found the perfect man in gorgeous lawyer Mark Darcy (Firth), 30-something ex-singleton Bridget (Zellweger) is now faced with the even bigger challenge of keeping him. When her self-doubts return and her womanising ex-lover Daniel (Grant) reappears uninvited, Bridget gets entangled in a comic mix of bad advice, miscommunications and total disasters that could only happen to her. In 'Love Actually' (2003), eight stories involving the love lives of more than a dozen characters are brought together over one Christmas and climax on Christmas Eve; from the recent widower Daniel (Liam Neeson), the failing marriage of Karen (Emma Thompson) and Harry (Alan Rickman), the aging rocker (Bill Nighy) who just wants to get paid (and laid if possible), through to the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) falling for a member of Number 10's staff (Martine McCutcheon). Finally, in 'Notting Hill' (1999) Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) is the world's most famous movie star, whilst divorced William Thacker (Hugh Grant) owns an ailing travel bookstore in his local neighbourhood of Notting Hill. One day Anna buys a book from William's shop and later collides messily with him on a street corner. She accompanies him home to clean herself up, and from there springs an unlikely romance. However, the path of true love is littered with obstacles, not least the media, the adoring fans and the differences in their lifestyles.
