News about the forthcoming Bridget Jones was released recently. It struck me as quite strange that many called Helen Fielding's first diary the original chick-lit novel. I couldn't help think that those who did so had not actually read the book, for if they had they would have realised how much Bridget Jones's Diary owes a debt to Jane Austen.

Fiction is one of the few walks of life where gender doesn't matter. In the real world, we are judged on our looks, our voice, our stance. In board rooms we struggle to make ourselves heard. On construction sites we are ogled. Books are genderless products that can be enjoyed by men and women regardless of what chromosomes the author happens to have.