Anastasia Steele

Fifty Shades of Grey

2012 paperback cover
Author	E. L. James
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Fifty Shades trilogy
Genre	Erotic romance
Published	20 June 2011 (Vintage Books)
Media type	Print (Hardcover, paperback)
Pages	514
ISBN
OCLC	780307033
Followed by	Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It is the first instalment in the Fifty Shades trilogy that traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism (BDSM). Originally self-published as an ebook and a print-on-demand, publishing rights were acquired by Vintage Books in March 2012.

Fifty Shades of Grey has topped best-seller lists around the world, selling over 125 million copies worldwide by June 2015. It has been translated into 52 languages, and set a record in the United Kingdom as the fastest-selling paperback of all time. Critical reception of the book, however, has tended towards the negative, with the quality of its prose generally seen as poor. Universal Pictures and Focus Features produced a film adaptation, which was released on 13 February 2015 and also received generally unfavourable reviews.

The second and third volumes of the trilogy, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, were published in 2012. Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian, a version of Fifty Shades of Grey being told from Christian's point of view, was published in June 2015.

Anastasia "Ana" Steele is a 21-year-old college senior attending Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington. Her best friend is Katherine "Kate" Kavanagh, who writes for the college newspaper. Due to an illness, Kate is unable to interview 27-year-old Christian Grey, a successful and wealthy Seattle entrepreneur, and asks Ana to take her place. Ana finds Christian attractive as well as intimidating. As a result, she stumbles through the interview and leaves Christian's office believing it went poorly. Ana does not expect to meet Christian again, but he appears at the hardware store where she works. While he purchases various items including cable ties, masking tape, and rope, Ana informs Christian that Kate would like some photographs to illustrate her article about him. Christian gives Ana his phone number. Later, Kate urges Ana to call Christian and arrange a photo shoot with their photographer friend, José Rodriguez.