OK, so the whole world, including Woman’s Hour earlier in the week, seems to be talking about ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ which in case you’ve been on an extraterrestrial holiday is the 2011 erotic novel by E L James which has sold somewhere in the region of ten million copies! Can you believe it? I’ve had a good day if a sell more than one copy of any of my books on Kindle.
Well finally I’ve given way, bitten the bullet, or perhaps I should say – have entered the red 
room of pain – downloaded the said novel and will give my verdict forwith – possible even tomorrow..
And I feel well qualified to do so, after all I’ve got form. I’ve written about sex in my novel The Orchid House. In fact when I first gave it to my agent she said the sex was very good and suggested it could be a bestseller if I filled it with sex!
Call me stupid but that wasn’t what I wanted to do (and she, being the person she is, fully respected that). I wanted to write a book that dealt seriously with sexual obsession: the way sex can imprison you, the way it can set you free. Sex is an integral part of life, it’s an important and underwritten subject. At least that’s what I think but I also think there’s nothing wrong with titillation or porn, including S&M, between consenting adults – so I’ll let you know very soon how I get on…
