Darker

Darker: Fifty Shades Darker As Told by Christian, usually shortened to Darker, was published on 28 November 2017. It is the fifth instalment of the Fifty Shades series, and James announced on 10 September 2016 that she was writing it.

The series is built around the relationship between the billionaire Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, and the first three books are narrated by her. This one takes the second of those novels and tells the same events from his side, which puts the reader inside the head of a character who had until then been seen only from outside.

The story picks up after the couple have parted in the first book, with Christian trying to persuade Anastasia to return to him; she agrees on her own terms, and their relationship is then threatened both by his past and by her employer, Jack Hyde. The Guardian reported that the novel went to number one in the United Kingdom on its release, selling more than three hundred thousand copies in its first week.