So you’ve read Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. And if you loved them, the good news is that there’s more. If you didn’t, you might as well stop reading right now.
But for the fans, EL James has just published Grey, the whole saga again, this time voiced by Christian Grey. And according to James’s dedication in this fourth title, the book has been eagerly awaited. It’s dedicated “to those readers who asked… and asked… and asked… and asked for this”.
And of course she should be grateful – what those readers have done for James is make her a wealthy woman.
Grey begins with a dull day at the office for Christian. His mood is as flat and grey as the weather, he muses, staring out at the Seattle skyline. And one of the things he has to endure is an interview with the persistent Miss Kavanagh for the Washington State University student newspaper.
And then, instead of Miss Kavanagh, Miss Anastasia Steele is shown in. Now Grey is even more grumpy. But of course this is not unexpected for us. We know what comes next.
Ana falls into the room, and Christian helps her to her feet. He’s already smitten by her powder blue, guileless eyes. She has a small, sweet face that is blushing like an innocent pale rose. “I wonder briefly if all her skin is like that – flawless – and what it would look like pink and warmed from the bite of a cane. Damn.”
Five days later he realises that despite his famous self-control, he’s smitten. Her fingers on the tape recorder, the way she tucks her hair behind her ear, the lip-biting.
So, having established that she has a student job at a hardware shop, he engineers a meeting. She’s eating her lunch, wipes a crumb from her lips and sucks on her finger. Christian’s wedding tackle twitches.
The rest is history. Or as the cover blurb says: “In Christian’s own words, and through his thoughts, reflections, and dreams, EL James offers a fresh perspective on the love story that has “enthralled millions of readers…”