British · b. 1969
British novelist whose Me Before You is a bestselling romantic drama about disability, autonomy, and love that became a major film and made Moyes an international household name.
Jojo Moyes worked as a journalist and had published several novels in Britain before Me Before You, published in 2012, became an international phenomenon. The novel follows Louisa Clark, a young woman who takes a job as a companion to Will Traynor, a formerly dynamic man left quadriplegic by a motorcycle accident. The relationship that develops between them is the novel’s center, and Moyes handles it with more complexity than the premise might suggest — Will is difficult, specific, and not redeemed by love in the conventional way.
Me Before You generated genuine controversy over its treatment of disability and euthanasia: Will’s decision to pursue assisted dying is presented with a sympathy that disability advocates have criticized as implying that life with significant disability is not worth living. These objections are important and the debate around the novel is worth engaging with. Moyes was responding to her own research and convictions about autonomy; critics were arguing from lived experience and from concerns about representation. Both perspectives deserve careful consideration.
Jojo Moyes is among the most popular and successful authors of contemporary women’s fiction, a British writer whose emotionally powerful, beautifully crafted novels have sold tens of millions of copies around the world. Renowned for her ability to combine compelling storytelling with deep feeling and thoughtful engagement with serious themes, Moyes creates novels that move readers profoundly while keeping them turning the pages. Her gift for vivid, sympathetic characters and her skill at exploring love, loss, and difficult moral questions have made her a beloved fixture of the bestseller lists and one of the most cherished storytellers in popular fiction.
Moyes’s most famous novel, Me Before You, became an international phenomenon and one of the most discussed popular novels of its era. The story of the relationship between a young woman and the wealthy man she is hired to care for after he is paralyzed in an accident, the novel combines romance with a serious and emotionally devastating engagement with difficult questions about disability, autonomy, and the right to choose one’s own path. The book provoked both enormous emotional response and genuine debate, including discussion among disability advocates, and its success, amplified by a hit film adaptation, made Moyes a household name.
The defining quality of Moyes’s fiction is its emotional power. Her novels are designed to move readers deeply, exploring love, grief, sacrifice, and the choices that define a life with honesty and intensity, and they are renowned for their ability to bring readers to tears. Yet her emotion is earned through careful characterization and genuine engagement with real human dilemmas rather than easy sentimentality. This capacity to evoke profound feeling, to make readers care deeply about her characters and their fates, is central to her appeal and the source of her devoted following.
A notable feature of Moyes’s work is her willingness to engage with serious and difficult subjects within the framework of accessible, emotionally satisfying fiction. Her novels confront illness, disability, grief, social class, and moral choice, refusing to offer only comfortable answers, and they invite readers to think as well as to feel. This combination of popular appeal and genuine thematic seriousness gives her work a depth beyond mere escapism, and her readiness to tackle complex and even controversial questions has been central to both her success and the discussions her books have generated.
Beyond her most famous contemporary work, Moyes has demonstrated considerable range, writing historical fiction, dual-timeline narratives, and stories spanning different eras and settings. Novels such as The Giver of Stars, set among the packhorse librarians of Depression-era Kentucky, show her ability to bring history vividly to life while exploring themes of female friendship, courage, and independence. This versatility, her capacity to move between contemporary and historical settings while retaining her emotional depth and storytelling skill, has broadened her appeal and kept her work fresh across a prolific career.
At the heart of Moyes’s success are her vivid, sympathetic, and fully realized characters, particularly her resilient, relatable heroines. She creates people readers genuinely care about, with authentic struggles, desires, and growth, and her attention to character is what makes her emotional storytelling so effective. Readers become deeply invested in her protagonists’ journeys, and her gift for bringing characters to life, for making them feel real and worthy of our concern, is fundamental to the powerful connection her novels forge with their audience.
Jojo Moyes has established herself as one of the most popular and beloved authors of contemporary women’s fiction, celebrated for the emotional power and thoughtful depth of her storytelling. For newcomers, Me Before You is the essential starting point, with The Giver of Stars offering her historical fiction and the sequels to her most famous novel continuing its story. For readers seeking deeply moving, beautifully written fiction that combines romance and serious themes with unforgettable characters and genuine emotional impact, Jojo Moyes ranks among the most rewarding storytellers writing today.
Add Still Me to the list once the best-known books are behind you.
by Jojo Moyes
A cheerful working-class woman becomes caregiver to a cynical, recently paralyzed man, and the relationship that develops challenges everything both of them believe about a life worth living.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Jojo Moyes
In Depression-era Kentucky, English transplant Alice joins a band of fierce women delivering books on horseback through the Appalachian mountains as part of Eleanor Roosevelt's Packhorse Library, finding sisterhood, courage, and herself along the way.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Jojo Moyes
Two love stories set forty years apart — Jennifer Stirling in 1960s London, trapped in a loveless marriage, and journalist Ellie Haworth in the present day — are connected by a cache of passionate letters discovered in a newspaper archive.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Jojo Moyes
Single mother Jess Thomas is struggling to get by when tech millionaire Ed Nicholls offers her and her mismatched family a ride to Scotland for a maths competition — a road trip that changes both their lives.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Jojo Moyes
Lou Clark returns in the sequel to Me Before You, navigating grief, unexpected new connections, and the question of how to live fully after catastrophic loss — including a visit from someone from Will Traynor's past.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Jojo Moyes
When two very different women accidentally swap gym bags, beleaguered Sam ends up with a pair of designer red crocodile heels — and a borrowed confidence that begins to change her life, while their tangled fortunes collide in surprising ways.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)
by Jojo Moyes
In the third Lou Clark novel, Louisa travels to New York City as a personal assistant to a wealthy family, navigating a new world, a complicated love triangle, and the ongoing question of what it means to live the life Will Traynor urged her toward.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)guide
Where to start with Jojo Moyes — whether to begin with Me Before You, The Last Letter from Your Lover, or After You. A complete reading guide.
list
Two novels that made a generation cry, spawned major films, and defined emotional fiction for a decade. A close comparison of The Fault in Our Stars and Me Before You.
list
Jojo Moyes's Louisa Clark — hired as a carer for Will Traynor, a quadriplegic who is planning to end his life — is one of contemporary romance fiction's most complex love stories. These books share its emotional intelligence, its willingness to address difficult subjects within the romance form, and the love story that doesn't end the way we want.
Disclosure: Amazon links on this page are affiliate links. If you purchase through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.