Erika Leonard Mitchell goes by the pen name EL James. She started using a pen name as her novels were sexually explicit and she didn’t want her children to see them. James was born in Willesden, England in 1963. After graduating from the University of Kent, she began working at the National Film and Television School. She married scriptwriter Niall Leonard in 1987, and they had two children.
After reading the popular Twilight series, James got interested in writing. James read Meyers’ trilogy in 2008 and was inspired to write sequels with the same characters, titled Master of the Universe. In 2011, the author severed her stories’ connections to Twilight, changed the characters, and subsequently renamed the series Fifty Shades of Grey. Soon after came the sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.
James became one of the best-selling authors of all time after her novel was taken up by publishers in 2012. Time magazine named her one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” in 2012. By 2013, the trilogy’s record sales had made her the highest-paid novelist in the world.
The picture rights had been secured by Universal Pictures and Focus Features by 2013. James also wrote two further novels in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Both retold the story from Christian Grey’s point of view: Grey and Darker.
In 2019, James released The Mister, her first novel not set in the Fifty Shades universe.
Currently, she lives with her family in London.
Books in order
Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian
Standalone Novel
Similar authors
- The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer follows the relationship between Bella Swan and the vampire Edward Cullen. Edward and his family have to fight to keep Bella safe from a coven of evil vampires.
- Nicholas Sparks‘ The Notebook follows a young couple’s love story. Set in the 1940’, their story is read from a notebook in the present day.
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green features Hazel, a 16-year-old girl with thyroid cancer. She attends a support group where she falls in love with Augustus Waters, a survivor of osteosarcoma.
See also: Penelope Sky Books in Order.
Most recommended books
- Darker (Fifty Shades as Told by Christian, #2) (4.11 Goodreads score)
- Freed (Fifty Shades as Told by Christian, #3) (4.10 Goodreads score)
- Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades, #3) (3.84 Goodreads score)
- Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades, #2) (3.83 Goodreads score)
- Grey (Fifty Shades as Told by Christian, #1) (3.81 Goodreads score)
Awards
E.L. James has won many awards thanks to her famous series, Fifty Shades. In 2012, Time 100 magazine awarded her with “The 100 Most Influential People in the World”. In 2012 she was named “Publishing Person of the Year” by Publishers Weekly. In the same year, she won “Popular Fiction Book of the Year”.
Latest releases
The latest book published is Freed, the final novel in the Fifty Shades as Told by Christian series. It was published in 2021.
Movies based on the novels
The first novel by E.L. James became a film in 2015. It stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as Grey and Anastasia. Despite receiving the same amount of criticism as James’ novels, the film was a huge success. The sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed followed in 2017 and 2018.
Book summaries
Grey (2015)
Christian Grey exercises control in all things; his world is neat, disciplined, and utterly empty—until the day that Anastasia Steele falls into his office, in a tangle of shapely limbs and tumbling brown hair. He tries to forget her, but instead is swept up in a storm of emotion he cannot comprehend and cannot resist. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, unworldly Ana seems to see right through him—past the business prodigy and the penthouse lifestyle to Christian’s cold, wounded heart.Will being with Ana dispel the horrors of his childhood that haunt Christian every night? Or will his dark sexual desires, his compulsion to control, and the self-loathing that fills his soul drive this girl away and destroy the fragile hope she offers him?
Darker (2017)
Their scorching, sensual affair ended in heartbreak and recrimination, but Christian Grey cannot get Anastasia Steele out of his mind, or his blood. Determined to win her back, he tries to suppress his darkest desires and his need for complete control, and to love Ana on her own terms.But the horrors of his childhood still haunt him, and Ana’s scheming boss, Jack Hyde, clearly wants her for himself. Can Christian’s confidant and therapist, Dr. Flynn, help him face down his demons? Or will the possessiveness of Elena, his seducer, and the deranged devotion of Leila, his former submissive, drag Christian down into the past?And if Christian does win Ana back, can a man so dark and damaged ever hope to keep her?
Freed (2021)
You are cordially invited to the wedding of the decade, when Christian Grey will make Anastasia Steele his wife. But is he really husband material? His dad is unsure, his brother wants to organize one helluva bachelor party, and his fiancée won’t vow to obey…And marriage brings its own challenges. Their passion for each other burns hotter and deeper than ever, but Ana’s defiant spirit continues to stir Christian’s darkest fears and tests his need for control. As old rivalries and resentments endanger them both, one misjudgment threatens to tear them apart.Can Christian overcome the nightmares of his childhood and the torments of his youth, and save himself? And once he’s discovered the truth of his origins, can he find forgiveness and accept Ana’s unconditional love?Can Christian finally be freed?
The Mister (2019)
London, present day. Life has always been easy for Maxim Trevelyan, the “spare” to the earldom of Trevethick. With his good looks, aristocratic connections, and money, he’s never had to work, and he’s rarely slept alone. But all that changes when tragedy strikes and Maxim inherits his family’s title, wealth, and estates, and the responsibility that entails. It’s a role he’s not prepared for and one he struggles to face.But his biggest challenge is fighting his desire for an unexpected, enigmatic young woman who’s recently joined his staff. Reticent, beautiful, and musically gifted, she’s an alluring mystery, possessing little more than a dangerous and troublesome past. As Maxim’s longing for her deepens into a passion he’s never experienced and dares not name, he’s left to wonder just who is Alessia Demachi? And can he protect her from the malevolence that threatens her?
