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Fifty Shades Of Grey
Cover of Fifty Shades Of Grey
Fifty Shades Of Grey
Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy
by E L James

"And in this quiet moment as I close my eyes, spent and sated, I think I'm in the eye of the storm. And in spite of all he's said, and what he hasn't said, I don't think I have ever been so happy."

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey's secrets and explores her own dark desires.

  • An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
  • More than 165 Million Copies Sold Worldwide
  • One of 100 Great Reads in the Great American Read
  • 133 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List
  • This book is intended for mature audiences.

    "And in this quiet moment as I close my eyes, spent and sated, I think I'm in the eye of the storm. And in spite of all he's said, and what he hasn't said, I don't think I have ever been so happy."

    When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

    Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey's secrets and explores her own dark desires.

  • An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
  • More than 165 Million Copies Sold Worldwide
  • One of 100 Great Reads in the Great American Read
  • 133 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List
  • This book is intended for mature audiences.

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    Excerpts-
    • From the book CHAPTER ONE

      I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror. Damn my hair—it just won't behave, and damn Katherine Kavanagh for being ill and subjecting me to this ordeal. I should be studying for my final exams, which are next week, yet here I am trying to brush my hair into submission. I must not sleep with it wet. I must not sleep with it wet. Reciting this mantra several times, I attempt, once more, to bring it under control with the brush. I roll my eyes in exasperation and gaze at the pale, brown-haired girl with blue eyes too big for her face staring back at me, and give up. My only option is to restrain my wayward hair in a ponytail and hope that I look semi-presentable.

      Kate is my roommate, and she has chosen today of all days to succumb to the flu. Therefore, she cannot attend the interview she'd arranged to do, with some mega-industrialist tycoon I've never heard of, for the student newspaper. So I have been volunteered. I have final exams to cram for and one essay to finish, and I'm supposed to be working this afternoon, but no—today I have to drive 165 miles to downtown Seattle in order to meet the enigmatic CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc. As an exceptional entrepreneur and major benefactor of our university, his time is extraordinarily precious—much more precious than mine—but he has granted Kate an interview. A real coup, she tells me. Damn her extracurricular activities.

      Kate is huddled on the couch in the living room.

      "Ana, I'm sorry. It took me nine months to get this interview. It will take another six to reschedule, and we'll both have graduated by then. As the editor, I can't blow this off. Please," Kate begs me in her rasping, sore throat voice. How does she do it? Even ill she looks gamine and gorgeous, strawberry blond hair in place and green eyes bright, although now red rimmed and runny. I ignore my pang of unwelcome sympathy.

      "Of course I'll go, Kate. You should get back to bed. Would you like some NyQuil or Tylenol?"

      "NyQuil, please. Here are the questions and my digital recorder. Just press record here. Make notes, I'll transcribe it all."

      "I know nothing about him," I murmur, trying and failing to suppress my rising panic.

      "The questions will see you through. Go. It's a long drive. I don't want you to be late."

      "Okay, I'm going. Get back to bed. I made you some soup to heat up later." I stare at her fondly. Only for you, Kate, would I do this.

      "I will. Good luck. And thanks, Ana—as usual, you're my lifesaver."

      Gathering my backpack, I smile wryly at her, then head out the door to the car. I cannot believe I have let Kate talk me into this. But then Kate can talk anyone into anything. She'll make an exceptional journalist. She's articulate, strong, persuasive, argumentative, beautiful—and she's my dearest, dearest friend.


      The roads are clear as I set off from Vancouver, Washington, toward Interstate 5. It's early, and I don't have to be in Seattle until two this afternoon. Fortunately, Kate has lent me her sporty Mercedes CLK. I'm not sure Wanda, my old VW Beetle, would make the journey in time. Oh, the Merc is a fun drive, and the miles slip away as I hit the pedal to the metal.

      My destination is the headquarters of Mr. Grey's global enterprise. It's a huge twenty-story office building, all curved glass and steel, an architect's utilitarian fantasy, with GREY HOUSE written discreetly in steel over the glass front doors. It's a quarter to two when I arrive, greatly relieved that I'm not late as I walk into the enormous—and frankly intimidating—glass, steel, and white sandstone lobby.

      Behind the solid...
    About the Author-
    • E L James is an incurable romantic and a self-confessed fangirl. After twenty-five years of working in television, she decided to pursue a childhood dream and write stories that readers could take to their hearts. The result was the controversial and sensuous romance Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. In 2015, she published the #1 bestseller Grey, the story of Fifty Shades of Grey from the perspective of Christian Grey, and in 2017, the chart-topping Darker, the second part of the Fifty Shades story from Christian's point of view. She followed with the #1 New York Times bestseller The Mister in 2019. In 2021, she released the #1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and international bestseller Freed, the third novel in the As Told by Christian trilogy. Her books have been published in fifty languages and have sold more than 165 million copies worldwide.

      E L James has been recognized as one of Time Magazine's Most Influential People in the World and Publishers Weekly's Person of the Year. Fifty Shades of Grey stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 133 consecutive weeks. Fifty Shades Freed won the Goodreads Choice Award (2012), and Fifty Shades of Grey was selected as one of the 100 Great Reads, as voted by readers, in PBS's The Great American Read (2018). Darker was longlisted for the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award.

      She was a producer on each of the three Fifty Shades movies, which made more than a billion dollars at the box office. The third installment, Fifty Shades Freed, won the People's Choice Award for Drama in 2018.

      E L James is blessed with two wonderful sons and lives with her husband, the novelist and screenwriter Niall Leonard, and their beloved dogs in the leafy suburbs of West London.

    Reviews-
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 27, 2012
      In James's controversial and wildly popular first-person erotic romance, co-ed Anastasia Steele is drawn into a dark relationship with a wealthy man named Christian Grey, who is seeking a submissive for his sexually dominant desires. But what Ana and Christian find instead is unexpected companionship and mutual respect. Becca Battoe, whose reading captures the spirit of easygoing, innocent, and educated Anastasia, narrates this endearing audio edition. Battoe's reading is crisp, clean, and well paced. Her version of the inexperienced Ana is full of wonder, horror, and amazement, and she nimbly handles the book's more steamy moments. For the other characters, Battoe offers up understated renderings—capturing the characters as Ana sees them. Fans of the series—or erotic fiction in general—will be delighted. A Vintage paperback.

    • Entertainment Weekly "In a class by itself."
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    Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy
    E L James
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