A new novel by Fifty Shades of Grey author E L James is coming this spring.
Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks, will publish James’ The Missus, the press announced in a news release. The novel is a sequel to The Mister, 2019 romance novel that a critic for Kirkus called a “modern fairy tale that moves apace but is burdened by uneven writing and characters who continually do things that seem out of character.”
The Mister followed Maxim, a British earl who falls in love with Alessia, his Albanian housekeeper. The new book tells the story of the pair’s marriage, which is questioned by Maxim’s family and members of English high society.
The two books are something of a departure from James’ Fifty Shades series, which dealt with bondage and sadism. In a 2019 interview with Oprah Daily, the author talked about The Mister, saying, “It is different, a far more conventional love story. It’s very daunting, especially when you have fans who say, ‘We want another Fifty Shades Freed but…I’ve been wanting to write this book since 2009, and this is where the muse has led me.”
Christa Désir, Bloom’s editorial director, said, “I adore The Mister, and The Missus is a really beautiful and incredibly satisfying follow-up. It reads like a modern-day Regency romance.”
The Missus is slated for publication on June 20.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
