Shades of Grey - Book Club
Details
We're reading Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde for September. I read this book in 2011, and walked away with a strong desire to read the sequel. It was known at the time that it would be a trilogy. I had no idea at the time that I would be waiting so long. The sequel, Red Side Story, was finally released in 2024, and the third, Wild Blue Yonder, is scheduled for 2028.
I hope that finally re-reading this book will be as good as I remember. I look forward to talking about it with you all!
For those of you that like a little extra, the author's website has some extra things to go with the book. Of particular note, this page has visual references for many of the specific colors in the book.
https://www.jasperfforde.com/grey/chroma.html
Where to find the book (as of 07/20/2026):
(If there are other local sources I should add, let me know)
Hard Copies (paper and hardback):
Delaware County Libraries - 7 of 7 copies available
Free Library of Philadelphia - 5 of 5 copies available
Montgomery County Libraries - 6 of 7 copies available
eBooks:
DCL - 0 of 1 copies (0 holds)
FLP - 0 of 3 copies (0 holds)
MCL - 0 of 1 copies (0 holds)
Audiobooks:
DCL - 0 of 0 copies
FLP - 0 of 1 copies (5 holds)
MCL - 0 of 0 copies
Summary:
In a society where the ability to see the higher end of the color spectrum denotes a better social standing, Eddie Russet belongs to the low-level House of Red and can see his own color—but no other. The sky, the grass, and everything in between are all just shades of grey, and must be colorized by artificial means.
Eddie’s world wasn’t always like this. There’s evidence of a never-discussed disaster and now, many years later, technology is poor, news sporadic, the notion of change abhorrent, and nighttime is terrifying: no one can see in the dark. Everyone abides by a bizarre regime of rules and regulations, a system of merits and demerits, where punishment can result in permanent expulsion.
Eddie, who works for the Color Control Agency, might well have lived out his rose-tinted life without a hitch. But that changes when he becomes smitten with Jane, a Grey Nightseer from the dark, unlit side of the village. She shows Eddie that all is not well with the world he thinks is just and good. Together, they engage in dangerous revolutionary talk.
Stunningly imaginative, very funny, tightly plotted, and with sly satirical digs at our own society, this novel is for those who loved Thursday Next but want to be transported somewhere equally wild, only darker; a world where the black and white of moral standpoints have been reduced to shades of grey.
390 pages / 13h 34min