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''Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron'' (simply titled ''Shades of Grey'' originally) is a dystopian novel, the first in the Shades of Grey series by novelist Jasper Fforde. The story takes place in Chromatacia, an alternate version of the United Kingdom wherein social class is determined by one's ability to perceive colour. ==Plot== Chromatacia is a future dystopian society that exists at least five hundred years (although possibly more) after the collapse of our own society, identified as 'the Previous'. All life is governed by the laws set by Munsell, the supposed and revered founder of Chromatacia. The rules range from sensible, such as outlawing murder, to bizarre, such as outlawing the manufacture of spoons (though old spoons are often kept as personal heirlooms). The social hierarchy of Chromaticia is defined by the ability to see colour, which is limited in most people to varying degrees of one hue, or at most two. Those who can see red predominantly are in the second-lowest social order (only ranking above 'Greys', who cannot perceive colour), and 'Purples' hold the highest rank. The perception of colour also affects their health and wellness: certain colours have medical effects on people, and doctors in this world are called "swatchmen", since they show swatches of colour to their patients. Shades of green, especially Lincoln green, act as a narcotic, and are often abused as recreational drugs. Surnames and names of towns are usually derived from various shades of colour, such as jade, carmine and saffron. Protagonist Eddie Russett is a 'Red' sent to the outer-fringe town of East Carmine to conduct a chair census, which he speculates is punishment for a practical joke played on the son of a prefect. There he meets Jane, a Grey with a retroussé nose and a fierce temper, who often causes personal injury to whomever she meets. His father becomes the swatchman of the village and is well liked by the Greys. In the course of the story, Eddie discovers that much of what the government has told the public is not true; in particular, that misfits, supposedly sent to Emerald City to be brainwashed, are actually taken to the deserted town of High Saffron to be killed by a building, the colour of which is poisonous to look at. Eddie falls in love with Jane, who is re-classified as a 'Green' when she takes a colour perception test, making their love illegal, due to the incompatibility of green and red. However, they plan to investigate the mysterious past of Chromatacia in secret, namely the mysterious 'Something That Happened' that led to the creation of their society. Details within the story reveal that East Carmine is located in Wales (the A470 road is mentioned) and the description of the town close to the lower of a series of five dams reveal it to be Rhayader at the foot of the Elan Valley. Nearby Rusty Hill was once Builth Wells,〔 whereas the town of Vermillion used to be Hereford.〔 The town of High Saffron is on the coast beyond the dams, which suggests Aberystwyth. The colour values as described in the book supposedly come from the Munsell color system as described by Albert Henry Munsell, but actually come from the HSV color model; and the "Ishihara", a test used to determine one's colour vision, is most likely a reference to Shinobu Ishihara, the inventor of the Ishihara colour perception test. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shades of Grey 1: The Road to High Saffron」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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