Fifty Shades of Grey

Article written by Joshua Ehiosun

C2 certified writer.

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is a 2011 erotic romance novel written by author E. L. James. As the first story in the Fifty Shades series, the novel introduces the story of Anastasia Steele, a young beautiful, and shy girl who meets the dangerously handsome billionaire, Christian Grey.

Basic Facts about Fifty Shades of Grey

• Book Title: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’
• Author: E. L. James.
• Inspiration: Before conceptualizing ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ E. L. James read Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight.’ After completing the twilight series, she decided to start her fan-fiction-inspired story. Initially calling it ‘Masters of the Universe,’ she later changed her mind and began an erotic story based on the characters from her fan-fiction story.
• Publication Date: June 20, 2011.
• Literary Period: Contemporary.
• Point of View: First-person point of view.
• Number of Pages: 514.
• Genre: Erotic Romance.
• Setting: Washington, Seattle.
• Protagonists: Anastasia, Christian.
• Climax: The story peaks when Ana asks to experience the absolute extreme of being submissive. He takes her to the red room and whips her with a belt, telling her to count.

E. L. James and Fifty Shades of Grey

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is a successful novel that propelled E. L. James’s career. The book has topped many bestseller charts and exists in over 50 languages. Before writing the story, she started ‘Masters of the Universe,’ after Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight.’ However, she changed the fan-fiction story into an erotic one that used the characters from the story to craft a love story that involves elements of intense sex.

Books Related to Fifty Shades of Grey

As an erotic romance novel that tells the story of a young girl thrown into a world of riches and sex, there are many books similar to E. L. James’s romantically-epic novel. Below is a list of books similar to ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’

• ‘A Million Dirty Secrets’ by C. L. Parker is an erotic romance novel that tells the story of Delaine Talbot, a young woman that auctions herself and becomes the property of the wealthy Noah Crawford after her family gets threatened. He introduces her to an entirely different form of pleasure. The novel, like Fifty Shades, got inspired by ‘Twilight’ as it was a fan-fiction story.
• ‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer is a romance-fantasy-young-adult novel that tells the story of Isabella, a young teen girl who moves to Forks, Washington. She falls in love with Edward Cullen, a 104-year-old vampire. After falling in love with Edward, James, a vampire from another coven, begins to hunt down Bella. Faced with danger, Bella flees to Phoenix but gets tricked into a confrontation with James.
• ‘Overruled’ by Emma Chase is a romance novel that tells the story of Stanton Shaw, a successful and good-looking defense lawyer who is still in love with his ex-wife. On realizing that she will be getting married to someone else, Stanton enlists the help of his friend, Sofia, to help him win back the woman he loves.
• ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ by E. L. James is the third novel of the Fifty Shades series. The story follows the life of Anastasia, who is a newly wedded wife to Christian Grey. Her marriage to Christian drastically changes her life as she enters the world of her billionaire husband, Christian. Anastasia begins navigating through the ups and downs of being married to a billionaire husband.
• ‘Sweet Filthy Boy’ by Christina Lauren is a novel that tells the story of a woman, Mia Holland, who meets a handsome French man, Ansel Guillaume, and follows him to France. Soon, she begins to develop feelings for him and inevitably finds herself in a situation where her next decision could determine if she got to stay with the man of her dreams or leave.
• ‘Taking It All’ by Maya Banks is a book that tells the story of a woman Chessy, married to the love of her life, Tate. With her marriage to Tate being one of her life’s dreams, Chessy begins fantasizing about the passionate and wild journey she and Tate have ahead of them. However, after some years pass, she realizes that her marriage is fading from the bliss it was when she said yes. Trying to fix their relationship, Tate finds himself in a situation involving his business; this forces him into a dilemma that will determine either the fate of his marriage or business.

The Lasting Impact of Fifty Shades of Grey