The author of 50 Shades of Grey is EL James, a married TV executive who has two children and lives in London. This was her first book, and it actually began as an attempt to write fan fiction for a vampire series. Then she got involved in the characters and made her own story out of it.

James has often said that she is no writer, and the book - or books, there are three of them now - has nothing really to do with her own life. As for whether it's worth reading, well, it's the fastest selling book in history so obviously millions of people have found it so.

I must say that I couldn't read very much of it - I did try, but it really is one of the worst written books I've ever seen. It also seemed pretty tame, but I suppose there are a lot of women out there who haven't read anything like this before. If you click here you can see the opening pages and decide for yourself.