When Jojo Moyes sat down for lunch with her friend Sophie Kinsella, she was at a crossroads. By then, Moyes had written eight novels, none of which had broken through to bestseller status. She was struggling financially, her publishers were losing faith, and she was convinced her writing career was nearing its end. "I was broke at the time and I was feeling quite depressed because I thought my writing career was coming to an end," Moyes revealed in a candid interview on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs (as reported by BBC and National World).
That pivotal lunch, however, would alter the course of literary history. Moyes shared with Kinsella that she had written about 20,000 words of a new manuscript—a story inspired by a real-life news report about a young rugby player who, after a devastating accident, became quadriplegic and sought assisted dying at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. The subject matter was fraught with moral complexity, and Moyes herself admitted, "I was so shocked by this story. I couldn't understand how a parent could agree to do that with their child." Yet, as she delved deeper into the nuances of the case, her perspective shifted. "I felt very judgmental... then I started to read up more [and] realised, like most things in life, it wasn't black or white, it was many shades of grey. It fascinated me and I decided to write a story based on a similar premise," she told Desert Island Discs (according to the Daily Mail).
But writing the book—eventually titled Me Before You—was an emotional journey. Moyes found herself frequently overwhelmed by the intensity of her characters' experiences. She described a particularly poignant moment: "I remember there's a letter at the end of this book that Will has written to Lou, and I remember writing it and sobbing so hard that the man in the next office came next door to see if I was OK and I had to sort of say snottily, it's going really well, thanks for asking." For Moyes, this deep connection to her characters was essential. "If I don't cry, the reader's not going to cry. Or if I don't make myself laugh, which is a terrible thing to say about your own jokes, then the reader's not going to laugh."
Despite her emotional investment, Moyes was on the verge of abandoning the project after those first 20,000 words. That’s when Kinsella, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, offered the encouragement Moyes so desperately needed. "You have to write this book, you do know that? You have to write this book," Kinsella insisted. The support didn’t end there—shortly after, Kinsella’s husband, Henry, called Moyes personally. "Jojo, Maddy, which is her real name, told me about this book and I think you should write it too. I love her for many reasons, but that’s one of them," Moyes recalled, her gratitude palpable in her voice (as reported by National World).
Kinsella’s encouragement proved to be the turning point. Moyes pressed on, finishing the manuscript even as her then-publisher remained lukewarm about its prospects. Fortunately, a rival publisher recognized the novel’s potential and took it on. What happened next was nothing short of extraordinary. Me Before You was published in 2012, and its moving story—charting the relationship between Louisa Clark, a quirky and compassionate caregiver, and William Traynor, a wealthy young man paralyzed after a motorcycle accident—struck a chord with readers around the world. The novel sold a staggering 14 million copies and was adapted into a hit film starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin.
Moyes admitted that she struggled to process the scale of her success. "I knew I loved this book... But I had no idea it was going to resonate in the way that it did. It just achieved this momentum. I kept thinking 'well, it's sold 3,000 copies this week, surely that's it'... and it just kept snowballing and then suddenly it was a bestseller in Brazil, in South Korea and then America and my whole life changed. I don't think I could look at the success for about three years because I couldn't believe it was finally happening," she told Desert Island Discs (as reported by the Daily Mail).
The impact of Me Before You didn’t end with the initial novel. Its popularity led Moyes to write two sequels: After You in 2016 and Still Me in 2018, both continuing Louisa Clark’s journey. Through these works, Moyes explored the lasting effects of love, loss, and personal growth, themes that resonated just as deeply with her readers as the original story.
But at the heart of Moyes’s success lies the support and mentorship she received from Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella, celebrated for her own bestselling Shopaholic series, passed away in December 2025 after a battle with aggressive brain cancer. Her legacy, however, lives on not just through her own novels, but in the careers she helped foster—Moyes’s most notably among them. As Moyes reflected during her interview, "I knew I loved this book and I knew it was the best version of itself that it could be, but I had no idea it was going to resonate in the way that it did."
The full interview with Moyes, offering a rare glimpse into the emotional and professional journey behind Me Before You, aired on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on December 28, 2025. Listeners were treated to a moving account of perseverance, friendship, and the power of encouragement at just the right moment—a testament to how even the most successful writers sometimes need a gentle nudge to keep going.
In the end, Moyes’s story is a reminder that behind every bestseller, there’s often a tale of struggle, doubt, and the invaluable support of friends. Sophie Kinsella’s belief in Moyes didn’t just change one writer’s life; it helped bring a story to millions that might otherwise have never been told.
