‘Fifty Shades’ author tones it down a bit
“The Mister” features familiar themes but skips most of the kinky stuff
Erika Leonard, the British novelist and 56-year-old mother of two, is a dreamer trying to give life to the characters inside her head. She comes across a sensitive lover of love who’s profusely apologetic for being two minutes late for an interview.
She also happens to be one of the most famous erotic writers of our time and self-proclaimed “terrible tease,” E.L. James.
That’s the pen name used for her “Fifty Shades of Grey” books, which ignited a romance-genre frenzy and launched a trilogy of films that earned her millions.
But the author tries not to get distracted by all that success.
“All of this happened to E.L. James,” she says. “It’s not the real me. The real me is the one at home.” It’s the one who just churned out another book, a story she has tried to write twice before but finally finished last year, called “The Mister.”
James’ newest work, available Tuesday (Vintage, 512 pp.), is a love story that follows an attractive, oversexed aristocratic man, Maxim (“The Mister,” himself), who falls for his beautiful, poor Albanian maid, Alessia.
“Fifty Shades” fans will find plenty of familiar themes in “The Mister”: Experienced guy hooks up with virginal girl, who doesn’t know how pretty she
is; rich dude has power and access that lady sorely lacks; older man is a bit obsessive about younger woman’s food intake; guy drops plenty of F-bombs, and woman bites part of her mouth.
But the new book doesn’t have sex toys, and it doesn’t have a room of pain. It’s still erotica, but the sex scenes are tamer and with clear consent.
That’s a far cry from a book series with a titular character who punished his partner with plugs, whips and restraints.
“I don’t think Alessia would be into (kinky sex),” James says.
Because James wrote much of the story in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the topic of consent “was very much at the forefront of my mind,” she says.
The author even told many intimate scenes from both characters’ points of view to make it crystal-clear that each party was on board.
James shares another thing that was top of mind while finishing “The Mister”: the growing divide between the haves and have-nots, a perhaps unexpected literary focus for an author who’s best known for writing about orgasms and inner goddesses.
“I want to explore what it’s like to have nothing,” James says, explaining why Alessia can’t afford a pair of socks and is almost a victim of sex trafficking. Why almost?
“I got her out early because it’s too upsetting to have that awful, horrendous
situation in my head,” she says.
Although the “Fifty Shades” character Ana has been criticized for her lack of personality, James tried to make it clear that Alessia is strong and “more than just a pretty face,” echoing a sentiment that Christian makes about Ana in “Fifty Shades” but doing so more convincingly than he did.
In “The Mister,” Alessia is a piano prodigy who plays as a way to mentally escape from her dire refugee situation.
James’ sixth novel, with its brandnew story and cliffhanger ending, showcases the author “trying to do something that’s – though it’s a complete fantasy on one level – kind of authentic,” she says.
“I’m concerned with the way the world is going and how the inequality gap seems to be widening.
“This (book) is about two people finding each other and trying to maintain a relationship when there’s so many things against them.”
As for whether fans will enjoy this different style of novel, James is not concerned.
“I write what I want to write about, what I want to read,” she says.
If the work isn’t well-received, then, she jokes, alter ego “E.L. James takes all the blame.”
“This is about two people ... trying to maintain a relationship when there’s so many things against them.” E.L. James