Arnoldo Mondadori Editore around the world, of which around 300,000 in Italy, with the aim of supporting the process of growth in digital for books. In 2012 Mondadori publishes Fifty Shades of Grey, the first volume of the erotic trilogy by debut London author E L James, rapidly followed by the two other titles, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. The trilogy sees in Italy the same kind of unprecedented success it gained in the English-language world: with more than 3.3 million copies sold in Italy and 130,000 downloads of the electronic version, the three volumes reach first, third and fourth position
Fifty Shades (novel series) book in "The New York Times" as being written "like a Brontë devoid of talent," and said it was "dull and poorly written." Jesse Kornbluth of "The Huffington Post" said: "As a reading experience, "Fifty Shades"...is a sad joke, puny of plot". Princeton professor April Alliston wrote, "Though no literary masterpiece, "Fifty Shades" is more than parasitic fan fiction based on the recent "Twilight" vampire series." "Entertainment Weekly" writer Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the book a "B+" rating and praised it for being "in a class by itself." British author Jenny Colgan in "The Guardian" wrote "It is jolly, eminently readable