Why are so many of the most popular female characters among American readers so… well… British? From Bridget Jones to Kate Reddy to Hermione Granger, there seems to be something about the UK’s women that’s attracting their colonial counterparts. “[Writer Allison] Pearson believes the British gift for pessimism and irony has served her — and her countrymen — well in print. She says, ‘ ‘Bridget Jones’ and Nick Hornby’s books and mine have extreme irony in common. And irony isn’t the normal American mode.'”