Is Lizzie Damilola Blackburn the Millennial Bridget Jones?

Is Yinka the Millennial Bridget Jones? British-Nigerian first time author, 32, is hailed by critics as the ‘spiritual heir’ of Helen Fielding’s legacy after penning a modern novel documenting singleton desperate for love in London

  • Critics hailed Lizzie Damilola Blackburn for writing ‘the new Bridget Jones’
  • British-Nigerian first time author, 32, penned a novel about love in London 
  • Each chapter begins with Yinka’s WhatsApp chats and internet search history 
  • Lizzie called Bridget Jones ‘iconic’ and said comparisons were ‘an honour’
  • Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is to be published in the UK on 31 March  

A British-Nigerian author who has penned her first ever novel documenting the life of a singleton in London has been hailed as the next Bridget Jones.

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, 32, from Peckham, wrote Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? which follows a single 31-year-old who sets herself a deadline of finding herself a plus one for her cousin’s wedding in six months’ time.

The plot follows the ups and downs of her dating life, complicated by the fact she is always a little behind her friends and doesn’t believe in sex before marriage.

Critics have been comparing the new romance novel to the next Bridget Jone’s, with  Emily Henry, author of You and Me on Vacation, saying: ‘Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is the spiritual heir to Bridget Jones’s Diary, while bringing something entirely fresh and modern to the table.’

Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, 32, from Peckham, has penned her first ever novel documenting the life of a singleton in London which has been hailed as the next Bridget Jones

Meanwhile Irish Examiner called it ‘a romcom ‘where Cinderella is Black and no-one bats an eyelid.”

And Sarah Morgan, author of The Christmas Escape, said: ‘Hilarious and heartfelt. Yinka is an unforgettable heroine.’

The novel begins with Oxford graduate Yinka Oladeji revealing she is up for promotion at the investment bank where she works. 

However she is publicly humiliated by her mother and aunties at her sister’s baby show, who send up ‘the prayer of the century’ that she will find a ‘huzband.’

The release of Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? comes after Bridget Jones faced woke criticism over it’s plot (pictured) 

Lizzie penned how Yinka’s aunty Kemi loudly prayed for her in front of the group, saying: ‘“In the same way you brought Kemi a huzband, Lord, bring Yinka a huzband of her own. Don’t delay your blessing. Bring him this year.”

‘The loudest Amens come from two other “aunties” standing in front of the sofa-one, vigorously shaking her head, the other mouthing her own prayer… 

‘I inhale to stay calm.’ 

‘“Sorry,” Kemi mouths with a pitying expression on her face-which I’ve grown accustomed to a lot lately.

Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? is to be published in the UK on 31 March

‘This isn’t your fault, I want to tell her. I mean, all you did was fall in love with a guy you met at uni who you got married to at twenty-five. And yes, I would have had a lot less pressure to settle down if you hadn’t got knocked up during your honeymoon in Costa Rica and waited, I dunno, maybe another year or two? But everyone finds love in their own time, and yours just happened to be before mine. My time will come. I know it will….

‘I want to punch a wall. I am desperate to leave but I can’t. Not when everyone is watching me. To my relief, the music resumes and Aunty Blessing gyrates to the center of the room.’   

Devastated by their behaviour, she loses her job before bumping into an old boyfriend who is now engaged.

She decides she must upgrade herself for her cousin Rachel’s wedding and find a date who could satisfy her family’s high standards.  

She draws up a detailed plan with ‘objectives,’ ‘tasks,’ ‘deadlines’ and ‘key performance indicators’ in order to find a date to the wedding later in the year. 

Much like Bridget, she admits to being a dowdy misfit and is desperate for approval, especially her own mother’s.

And similarly to the notorious singleton, Yinka is even willing to tell lies along the way. 

Meanwhile each chapter opens in a similar way to Bridget’s diary entries – with WhatsApp messages and internet search histories.

Author of the Bridget Jones franchise Helen Fielding, has admitted she finds it difficult to stomach aspects of the film

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Lizzie revealed she felt ‘honoured’ to have the comparison with the romance novel.

She said: ‘[Bridget Jones] is iconic, but I also want Yinka to be her own standalone character.’ 

A former charity worker, Lizzie is now a full-time author having finished her book in May 2020.

She based much of the book on her own experience, having met her own husband on OkCupid in 2015. 

She explained: ‘I think that would send a wrong message to the readers. There are a lot of women and men out there who have timescales and deadlines [in their heads for meeting someone] and not all the time do we meet it. I didn’t want [the book] to be unrealistic.’ 

The book’s release comes after Bridget Jones faced woke criticism over it’s plot.

Last year, body confidence campaigner Alex Light, said watching Bridget’s obsession with weight as an impressionable teenager made her vow to diet as she was left thinking 9st 4lbs is fat.

Author of the Bridget Jones franchise Helen Fielding, has also admitted she finds it difficult to stomach aspects of the film.

Watching the trilogy with her children years after its release, Helen said: ‘You couldn’t write that now. The level of sexism Bridget was dealing with, the hand on the bum in so many of the scenes, [Sit Up Britain boss] Richard Finch, ‘Let’s have a shot of the boobs.

‘I mean in the end she turned round and stuck it to them but it was just part and parcel of her life.

‘It was quite shocking for me to see how things have changed.’

Source: Read Full Article

Previous post FYI, Zoë Kravitz has the coolest baby braids right now
Next post Animal mad couple who live in the Sri Lankan jungle took in wild boar