EL James, the author of the bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey series, will publish a new novel titled The Mister on April 14. It will be the first book by the English author to be set outside the world of the Fifty Shades series, which has sold 150 million copies worldwide and has been adapted to film.

The Mister is a contemporary romance novel set in London, Cornwall and Eastern Europe, and tells the story of “privileged and aristocratic young Englishman Maxim Trevelyan and the mysterious, talented and beautiful Alessia Demachi”, publishers Penguin Random House said.

Calling the novel a “Cinderella story for the 21st century”, James said, “Maxim and Alessia have led me on a fascinating journey and I hope that my readers will be swept away by their thrilling and sensual tale, just as I was while writing, and that, like me, they fall in love with them.”

Originally self-published, the first instalment of Fifty Shades of Grey came out in 2011 and tells the story of an erotic relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and businessman Christian Grey. Two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, were published in 2012. James has also written two companion novels, Grey and Darker, told from the point of view of Christian Grey. The books broke sales records and have been published in 48 languages but also earned criticism for inaccurately depicting BDSM relationships.