Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is the fourth of the Bridgerton books, part of a historical romance series written by New York Times best-selling author Julia Quinn and first published by Avon Books in 2002. The series, already popular among fans of historical fiction, garnered broader interest after being adapted into a Netflix series helmed by veteran showrunner Shonda Rhimes. Set in Regency London, the books describe the courtship and marriage of the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton follows the friends-to-lovers romance of the third son, Colin, as he falls for family friend and confirmed “spinster” Penelope Featherington. As Penelope discovers Colin’s secret passion for writing, Colin helps Penelope discover her true worth. 

This guide refers to the mass market paperback edition published by Avon Books in 2015, which includes a second epilogue for the novel, previously published in the collection The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After. [Note: The 2015 edition has different pagination than the mass market tie-in reprint published in 2021.]

Plot Summary

In 1812, just before her 16th birthday, Penelope Featherington falls in love with Colin Bridgerton when she witnesses him laughing after he falls from his horse in the park. Shy, curvy Penelope, who is awkward in company, knows that she has no chance of attracting romantic interest from charming, handsome, popular Colin. Colin is always kind to her, but on one occasion, she witnesses him quite vehemently declaring that he would never marry her. 

The doings of the charmed Bridgerton family are of great interest to the anonymous gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, whose weekly society paper members of London’s high society devour with great curiosity.

In 1824, Colin and Penelope renew their friendship when Colin returns from travels in Greece. Penelope finds him as charming as always; Colin is surprised by Penelope, noticing that she is lovely, funny, intelligent, and suddenly attractive in a way he never previously noticed. As they banter at various balls and parties, they enjoy matching wits with each other and with the formidable Lady Danbury, a widowed countess who creates a stir among the “ton,” or social elite, when she offers a reward of £1,000 for whoever identifies the gossip columnist calling herself Lady Whistledown. Lady Danbury acts as a foil and mentor, advising Penelope that she is more than what others see.

Penelope discovers a new side of Colin when she comes upon the journal he keeps of his travels. She thinks that his writing is wonderful, but Colin is less certain. He is tired of playing the role of the man about town and longs for purpose. Following a column in which Lady Whistledown announces that, due to increasing interest in her identity, she plans to retire, Cressida Twombley, who has long been Penelope’s nemesis, announces at a ball that she is Lady Whistledown. Penelope, finding her voice thanks to Lady Danbury’s urgings, challenges Cressida in public. In private, Colin and Penelope share a kiss that ends in a quarrel: Colin isn’t certain how to deal with his developing feelings for Penelope, and Penelope thinks that Colin kisses her out of pity.

When Colin calls on Penelope to apologize, he spots her leaving her house in a hired vehicle and follows her on a mysterious errand into the City (London’s financial district), where she leaves an envelope in the pew of a church. Seizing the envelope, Colin discovers that Penelope is, in fact, Lady Whistledown and has penned one last column denouncing Cressida’s claim.

Colin is upset over the ruin that will follow if Penelope is unmasked, but Penelope is proud of her accomplishment: Lady Whistledown’s column has been avidly read and admired for nearly a dozen years, and it would break Penelope’s heart if someone like Cressida took the credit. As he drives her home, Colin proposes marriage. Penelope’s mother is comically bewildered that anyone would want Penelope.

Colin consults his married older sister, Daphne, about being in love. Penelope discusses marriage with her best friend—Colin’s sister, Eloise, who is considered a “spinster” like Penelope. Penelope is delighted to be marrying Colin, but when Lady Whistledown’s final column is distributed in the midst of their engagement ball, she learns that her husband-to-be is jealous of Penelope’s accomplishment. They reconcile and have sex that evening. Still, Penelope fears that Colin is ashamed of what she wrote as Lady Whistledown. When he cautiously shares his journals with her, Penelope encourages him to publish his work, and they connect over this new goal.

Cressida discovers that Penelope authored the Lady Whistledown columns and blackmails her for a great deal of money. Distraught, Penelope turns to Colin, who enlists his Bridgerton siblings and mother to come to Penelope’s rescue. At a ball thrown by Daphne, the Duchess of Hastings, Colin makes a public toast to his wife, praising her beauty, wit, and authorship as Lady Whistledown. Lady Danbury welcomes this announcement with applause, and Penelope is roundly admired. 

The Epilogue shows their marital happiness. A year later, Colin’s journal is published, Penelope is writing a novel, and they are expecting their second child.

The Second Epilogue follows Colin and Penelope to the wedding of Eloise to Sir Philip Crane. Eloise apologizes to Penelope for keeping her correspondence with Philip a secret and reveals that she’s already learned from her sister Hyacinth that Penelope is Lady Whistledown. The two friends forgive each other.