Jojo Moyes's Blog

Like the rest of us, Lou Clark is locked down. JoJo Moyes revisits the beloved character from her Me Before You trilogy exclusively for Penguin.co.uk. Read the full piece on the Penguin website here: hyperurl.co/LouinLockdown

The post Lou in Lockdown appeared first on JoJo Moyes.

The wait is over! We’re delighted to be able to share the first trailer for the film adaptation of Jojo Moyes’ international bestseller Me Before You, starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) as Will Traynor and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Louisa Clark. The film will be in cinemas from June 3rd.

If you’re one of the few people in the world that have not read Me Before You, then we hope you read the before book you see the film in June. You can order a copy here: http://bit.ly/MBYJojoMoyes

In September last year we published the critically acclaimed sequel After You, which was written by Jojo after she was flooded with emails and tweets asking the question: ‘What happened to Lou?’ The book has already become an international bestseller, and is out now.

Order a copy of After You here: http://bit.ly/AYJojoMoyes

The post Watch the trailer for Me Before You! appeared first on JoJo Moyes.

The wait is over! We’re delighted to be able to share the first trailer for the film adaptation of Jojo Moyes’ international bestseller Me Before You, starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) as Will Traynor and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Louisa Clark. The film will be in cinemas from June 3rd.

If you’re one of the few people in the world that have not read Me Before You, then we hope you read the before book you see the film in June. You can order a copy here: http://bit.ly/MBYJojoMoyes

In September last year we published the critically acclaimed sequel After You, which was written by Jojo after she was flooded with emails and tweets asking the question: ‘What happened to Lou?’ The book has already become an international bestseller, and is out now.

Order a copy of After You here: http://bit.ly/AYJojoMoyes

Very exciting news – Jojo has revealed the UK cover for After You on Twitter.

After You, the sequel to the international bestseller Me Before You, will be published in the UK on September 24th.

Pre-order your copy now: www.bit.ly/JMAfterYou

Watch the trailer: www.bit.ly/AfterYouTrailer

I haven’t posted much in the way of book recommendations for a while (mostly because I’ve had so little time to read) but I just thought instead of a one word twitter recommendation, it might be nice to post a couple at greater length on here.

The Kindness by Polly Samson

Full disclosure: Polly is a friend of mine. But that actually makes reading someone else’s book potentially traumatic. If you hate it, you doom yourself to a handful of awkward meetings where you either both pretend that you haven’t actually received it, or have to rattle on about how busy you are and unable to read anything at all, or say something anodyne like “Oh! Yes! Lovely cover! Lovely!”

Thankfully, it took me about two pages to realise this book is a dark, sexy little masterpiece. Hard to categorise, but centred around the paternity of a child, it reveals its secrets in layers. Images from it – a forced sexual encounter, a hawk, a hospitalised daughter – stayed with me long after the book had finished. It is one of those books that as a writer, you finish, and slightly want to kick something because you didn’t write it yourself. Published 12/3/15

Breaking The Silence by Jo Milne

Jo Milne came to prominence last year when a friend made her a playlist on Lauren Laverne’s radio show. Nothing unusual about that – except Jo had only just begun to hear, at the age of 39, having just been fitted with a cochlear implant.

As the parent of a child with an implant, this book had an added resonance for me, but even if you have no interest in deaf issues you will be fascinated by a world seen through the eyes of someone discovering sound. Laugh along with the indominatible Jo as she stands surreptitiously turning light switches on and off, intrigued that they actually make a noise, weep with admiration at her amazing family, and wish you could aim a swift kick at the backside of a heartless lecturer, one of a long list of idiots who thoughtlessly attempt to humiliate an extraordinary woman. Out now.

The Woman Who Fell In Love In A Week by Fiona Walker

It is one of the great unfairnesses of life that Jilly Cooper does not turn out a book a year. It is one of its great consolations that we have Fiona Walker to fill in the gaps. The Woman Who Fell In Love in A Week is a gorgeous sexy romp of a book, complete with badly behaved dogs, gorgeous country houses and taut-stomached gardeners with gruff manners and expert sexual technique. In a tough few weeks in which I have barely managed to stay awake long enough to brush my teeth, I retreated to this book like a comfort blanket. A perfect summer read. Out now.

We are delighted to announce that Jojo has a brand new book coming out this Autumn. After You is the sequel to Me Before You, which has sold more than five million copies worldwide and is currently being adapted for the big screen, with a major feature film due for release in 2016. British director Thea Sharrock is attached to the project with an all-star cast featuring The Hunger Games’ Sam Clafin as Will and Game Of Thrones Emilia Clarke as Lou.

Jojo Moyes said “I hadn’t planned to write a sequel to Me Before You. But working on the movie script, and reading the sheer volume of tweets and emails every day asking what Lou did with her life, meant that the characters never left me. It has been such a pleasure revisiting Lou and her family, and the Traynors, and confronting them with a whole new set of issues. As ever, they have made me laugh, and cry. I hope readers feel the same way at meeting them again.” 

Watch the trailer below for more!

After You will be published in the UK on the 24th of September 2015. More information coming soon.

Pre-order your copy of After You on Amazon now: www.bit.ly/AfterYouJM

We’re delighted to announce that The One Plus One, has been shortlisted in the Best Fiction of 2014 category for the Goodreads Choice Awards 2014.

The opening round of voting is now open! To vote for The One Plus One, click here.

I haven’t written a book blog for ages, mostly for time reasons (I’m on a very tight book deadline; all my own fault, and working on two film adaptations of my books – this may have to be a whole other blog post) which is my longwinded way of saying I suddenly had a few books I actually wanted to say things about.

The first is a children’s book, although don’t let that put you adults off (I’m assuming you’re adults). It’s called El Deafo, and it’s a comic book by Cece Bell, based on her own childhood growing up deaf after meningitis (I’m not going to say hearing impaired – I think calling your book ‘El Deafo’ frees me from any need to pussyfoot around).

What happens when your hearing aid picks up your teacher going to the loo…

It is a wonderful, imaginative funny, bittersweet book about being different, about childhood and negotiating your way through school, and there was almost no surprise in finding a quote on the front from that bestselling expert in such things, Wonder’s RJ Palacio.

My son, who is deaf, loved it, and also loved chatting to Cece Bell on Twitter. (She does a cartoon horse that made us laugh solidly for ten minutes.) But I don’t think you have to be deaf to enjoy her work, just human.

David Nicholls’ Us was five years in the making, a long hiatus after his bestselling One Day. I know David a little (we share a literary agents, and various friends), and whenever I bumped into him during that period and asked him: “how’s the writing?” (that standard question between authors) he would wear a slightly startled, pained expression and mutter darkly that we should have a coffee some time. Now, having heard him speak on his various failed attempts to write a book that followed a global success, I have some sympathy. But Nicholls is an author that understands that sometimes you need to perform brutal surgery to get the result you want, and the resulting book is funny, sad, bittersweet and above all, compellingly readable, a fact recognised by its ManBooker long listing – and its current No1 status.

This week, on a trip, I finished Victoria Hislop’s The Sunrise. I admit I’m a late convert to Hislop in print; I knew The Island had been a mega-seller and having met and liked her several times I was curious. (Always a risk when you like someone, though – the dread horror of finding you hate their book…). The Sunrise, thankfully, is very good indeed. It’s a fascinating look at the violent division of Cyprus along  Greek/Turkish lines in the 1970s, seen through the prism of a luxury hotel. It is shot through with Victoria Hislop’s knowledge and love for all things Greek (she learned the language after writing her first book) and is that brilliantly rare thing, commercial fiction that teaches you something.

Steering away from fiction, I’ve also been dipping in and out of Sali Hughes’ Pretty Honest, a beauty bible ‘without the BS’. I’m not very high maintenance; this afternoon I broke two nails attaching a new chain harrow to a tractor. But I like this book just for that reason; it’s full of useful short cuts, and tips for those, like me, whose make up bag mostly lives in the car and whose enhancements are often done at traffic lights, and tells you as much what not to buy (toner! Serums!) as much as what you should.

Next week I go to the launch of India Knight’s In Your Prime, which promises to do something similar for the lives of women – ahem – of a certain age. I am not missing this. A few weeks ago on Twitter I saw India mention the ‘most miraculous beauty product’ she’s ever used. You don’t throw that stuff about lightly. So I bullied her, offline, into telling me what it was. I took a punt and shipped it from the US – and it truly is the most miraculous beauty product I have ever used. And no, I can’t tell you what it was. But she will. Next year. And then WE WILL ALL BE FABULOUS.

See what books can do?

Chattanooga – a real place!

They tell good tales in Nashville. This morning I spent at Ingram, one of the biggest book publishers and distributors in the US, giving a talk to its staff, and signing books for retailers.

These events can often be a little dry; some handshaking, conversation about book markets, a long walk down corporate corridors. Not in Nashville.

Sitting down to lunch with the staff of Ingrams was possibly one of the most fun things I have done on this entire tour (and that is saying something). Because Southerners can tell a story.

Here are just a few of those I can remember: One woman, S, (I will not name her, for reasons which will become clear) told a story about a business trip with her husband to Georgia, where she met a man who had an interest in alligators near the Okefenokee Swamp (this is a real place. I checked). (“I got an earache and he told me he could fix it. Two days later he told me the stuff I’d been squirting into my ear was alligator sperm.”

Did it work? I asked, after a polite pause.

“Well, yes.”

When they left, on a private plane, he had handed her a folded towel, with the instruction not to open it in the air. So she did, of course, revealing a small, live alligator. Once home, she had kept it in the bath, digging up bugs and worms to feed it, while she worked out what to do. “But it started to look kind of sick. So I rang the alligator rescue, and the next thing they told me they could prosecute me for bringing an alligator over state lines. Oh I was cursing that man.”

S went to her local pet store, who knew her well, and pleaded for help. She ended up paying them to create the paperwork that would get it safely back over state lines. Where, apparently, it is now safe and well. She was pretty responsible. It does not do to tip an alligator into the local creek in Nashville.

Outside Dolly’s Nashville residence. No restraining order needed.

Other stories I heard – too many and varied to repeat her – involved: a bathtub for ten, a man called Bubba who caught  a catfish that wouldn’t fit in a car, and a dog with a prosthetic leg who gnawed her other foot off. And that was just lunch.

After lunch, Sharon, whose husband works in the music industry, took me for a drive. Surprisingly, music is only the fourth most important industry in Nashville. First is insurance, second is religious publishing, third is tourism and music comes fourth.

The landscape is lush and hilly, the houses of Brentwood, where many musicians live, are generous and surrounded by acres of parkland. We stopped outside Dolly Parton’s Nashville home, so I could take a picture, and then drove past the houses of Kenny Chesney and too many others for me to recall.

Fleeting view of the church Oprah built for her father

Every half a mile or so there is a church. “The South is Bible Belt,” said Sharon. “And Nashville is its buckle.” (Southerners also have a great turn of phrase. When I told Sharon as an author you never knew what kind of audience you were going to get next, she said: “Oh I know, honey. It’s all chicken or feathers.”)

The South is also famous for big weather. She told me a story about driving an author through a mini-tornado which ripped off her boot. In the author’s bag had been a Christmas bell, which embedded itself firmly somewhere in Sharon’s car. “That darn bell rang every two minutes. Every single author I had in my car considered it a challenge to find it.” Even Pulitzer-winning Richard Ford had a go. No luck. They sold it in the end.

Inside the Parthenon, Nashville. Unexpected.

We visited Music Row, where studios sit in residential houses, the Parthenon, a life-sized repicla of the real thing. And now I am taking an hour in my hotel room eating yellow squash and gnocchi before my last gig, at Ann Patchett’s Parnassus Books. If the stories tonight are even half as good I may have to rethink my career.

Damn. I just realised I forgot to tell the one about the goat that ate a car.

Fried chicken, mac’n'cheese, spicy collard greens. Mmmm.

It is 7.39am. I am sitting in San Francisco Airport waiting for a shuttle to Atlanta. I have just tipped my breakfast fruit salad over my lap, I have left my nightdress in the last hotel room, and the barista has just drawn an image that looks unnervingly like ladyparts in my Latte Mocha.

It’s that part of the tour.

I’m on Day 13. I have completed 8 flights and have four to go. All pretence of being an efficient traveller is now out of the window. My ‘unpacking’ at each stop consists of pulling each item out of my now tangled case and examining at a window for stains and creases (also, occasionally, sniffing) to see whether it could pass muster in front of an audience.

Whereas at the beginning of the tour I stride out purposefully at every city to see the sights, soak up what atmosphere I can, take pictures and blog, now I fall asleep, open mouthed and fully clothed on whatever hotel bed I land in, just about remembering to set an alarm so that I can wake up in time to stick with my schedule. Occasionally I fall asleep on my media escort.

My stories are becoming garbled. My small talk is non-existent.

Thank goodness for the audiences. Because no matter how tired you are, when you stand in front of a room full of smiling people, the adrenaline kicks in and you are suddenly more awake than you have ever been (so awake, in fact, that you will then stay awake until the small hours,  your brain humming like a handheld fan). Readers have been so uniformly excellent on this tour that I suspect I have invited half of the West Coast to come and stay at my house at some point. It may be a busy Autumn.

So, I think. Home stretch. One day of flying, one more day of talking. Easy, right?

ONE FLIGHT LATER.

So having flown the four and a bit hours to Atlanta, I finally boarded the last flight of the day – to Nashville. I was tired, hungry, but looking forward to Nashville (country music! schlocky TV shows!), and grateful that this flight was a short one.

I found my seat – the middle of a row of three (groan). And to my left a heavily tattooed man sat with legs akimbo across my seat. A woman sat down in the 3rd seat and looked like she was praying. Great, I thought inwardly. It’s going to be one of those flights.

Well, it was. But not in the way I’d expected. The plane taxied, readied itself for take-off, and just as it started up the runway I was diverted by the sound of shouting. I looked behind me and a few rows back two women were having a fierce argument, almost coming to blows, while three stewardesses hurried to try and break it up. As it escalated, the stewardess ran to the captain to ask whether to abort the take off. But he must have decided that it was too late, because within seconds we were in the air.

I am a much less nervous flyer than I used to be. I had managed to tune out the fact that even as I was in the air earlier that day a Malaysian passenger jet had been shot out of the sky. But there is nothing like the sound of a fight going on behind you to ratchet up the tension on a rapidly ascending plane. Heads swivelled anxiously. People stood up. Beside me, a woman who was trying to get to see her grandchild in hospital before his heart failed again, told me repeatedly the women were making her really anxious.  There was a moment where I felt the familiar panic rising in me, and thought I cannot do this.

And this is where Mr Tattoo (actually a software executive called Steve) stepped in, charming, distracting, reassuring. We joked about the situation we were in. We flicked through the Skymall catalogue, pointing at waterproof jackets for dogs. We showed each other pictures of our children (hurray for iphones) and before we knew it, the plane was preparing to land. (The instigator of the fight had by now been moved – to a seat right behind us – and was STILL arguing “I don’t need to be spoken to like that by no stewardess!” Steve: “I think she might have a new friend, in police form, waiting for her at the gate.”)

So I arrived in Nashville a little frazzled, but having been reminded never to judge someone by first appearances, and grateful for one of those random encounters that actually makes the world a slightly better place.

Thank you, Steve. Also: your daughter is really cute.

Skymall. Because everyone needs a zen frog.