Fifty Shades Of Grey

First published by The Writer’s Coffee Shop, 2011
Copyright © E L James, 2011

The right of E L James to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her
under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968,
no part maybe reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system,recorded or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people
living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Writer’s Coffee Shop
(Australia) PO Box 2013Hornsby Westfield NSW 1635
(USA) PO Box 2116 Waxahachie TX 75168

Paperback ISBN-978-1-61213-028-6
E-book ISBN-978-1-61213-029-3
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the US Congress Library.

Cover image by: © Papuga2006 | Dreamstime.com
Cover design by: Jennifer McGuire
www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/ejames

E L James is a TV executive, wife, and mother of two, based inWest London. Since early
childhood, she dreamt of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those
dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage
to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.

E L James is currently working on the sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey and a new romantic
thriller with a supernaturaltwist.

I am indebted to the following people for their help and support:
To my husband Niall – thank you for tolerating my obsession, being a domestic god and doing
the first edit.
To my boss Lisa – thank you for putting up with me over the last year or so while I indulged in
this madness.
To CCL – I’ll never tell but thank you.
To the original bunker babes – thank you for your friendshipand constant support.
To SR – thank you for all the helpful advice from the start and for going first.

To Sue – thanks for sorting me out.
To Amanda and all at TWCS – thank you for taking a punt.

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 myfinal 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 onlyoption 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, one essay tofinish, and I’m supposed to be working this afternoon, but no – today I have to drive a hundred and sixty-five 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, shetells me. Damn her extra-curricular 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...