From the bestselling author of Thursday Next—a brilliant
new novel about a world where social order and destiny are
dictated by the colors you can see
Part social satire, part romance, part revolutionary
thriller, Shades of Grey tells of a battle against
overwhelming odds. 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.