Me Before You
Louisa Clark, a cheerful small-town twenty-six-year-old who has just lost her cafe job, takes a temporary position as caregiver to Will Traynor, a wealthy former banker left quadriplegic by a motorcycle accident and quietly planning to end his life at Dignitas. Over six months she fills his calendar with trips and small surprises designed to show him a life still worth staying for, and their push and pull turns into something neither expected. Jojo Moyes writes Louisa and Will toward an ending that refuses to pretend disability, autonomy, and love are easy to hold together, which is why the novel became both a blockbuster romance and a polarizing book in disability communities.
Where Me Before You keeps showing up
Seven of our editors' lists feature this novel.
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A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about Me Before You
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Out of work and short on options, Lou Clark takes a job as a caregiver for Will Traynor, a former banker paralyzed in an accident. Will already has his own quiet plan for the year ahead. Lou tries to give him another.
Yes. A 2016 film adaptation directed by Thea Sharrock and starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin was released. The film follows the novel closely and was a major commercial success.
Jojo Moyes wrote three books following Louisa Clark: Me Before You, After You, and Still Me. Each can be read as a standalone, though the trilogy follows Lou's continuing arc.
Me Before You was written by Jojo Moyes, published in 2013 by Penguin Publishing Group.
Me Before You is 492 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Me Before You takes most readers 7 to 11 hours to finish.
Me Before You is a standalone novel by Jojo Moyes, not part of a series.
Me Before You is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
