It was also a book that was enormously popular among women. At that time, if you were to randomly choose a book from the best-seller list, there’s a good chance you’d land on Shades of Grey.
We’ll have to agree to disagree about the plausibility. I consider it perfectly plausible that an assistant was dispatched to buy a book for a prize and, having no knowledge of the dire state of women’s popular literature, grabbed whatever topped the best sellers list.
