Me Before You
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Praise for Me Before You “Me Before You is a delicious surprise—funny and hopeful and heartbreaking, the kind of story that will keep you turning pages into the night. Lou Clark and Will Traynor will capture your heart and linger there long after their story has ended.” —Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters “Some books make you stop and think, compel you to examine your own take on life or your position or stand on an issue. Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You will surprise you—it is impossible not to put yourself in the characters’ shoes and you will find yourself thinking about the choices you might make if life changed in an instant. I loved it.” —Lee Woodruff, New York Times bestselling author of Those We Love Most “A lovely novel, both nontraditional and enthralling.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Me Before You has every quality a page-turner should have, in spades. This is an unusual and emotional love story melded with a satisfying coming-of-age tale that is utterly irresistible.” —Bookreporter.com “Moyes’s latest is made heartwarming, thanks to the vibrancy of its main characters, both of whom will keep readers on their toes with their chemistry and witty repartee. Humorous and romantic through and through.” —Romantic Times “Moyes’s twisting, turning, heartbreaking novel raises provocative moral questions. With shades of David Nicholls’s beloved One Day, Me Before You is the kind of book you simply can’t put down—even when you realize you don’t want to see it end. A big-hearted, beautifully written story that teaches us it is never too late to truly start living.” —BookPage ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jojo Moyes is also the author of The Girl You Left Behind and The Last Letter from Your Lover. Moyes writes for a variety of magazines and newspapers. She is married to Charles Arthur, technology editor of The Guardian. They live with their three children on a farm in Essex, England. PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd, 2012 First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2012 Published in Penguin Books 2013 Copyright © Jojo Moyes, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. A Pamela Dorman / Penguin Book the library of congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Moyes, Jojo, date. Me before you : a novel / Jojo Moyes. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-670-02660-9 (hc.) ISBN 978-0-14-312454-2 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-10-16037-7 (eBook.) 1. Young women—Fiction. I. Title. PR6113.O94M4 2012 823'.92—dc23 2012029301 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. TO CHARLES, WITH LOVE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my agent, Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown, and to my editor at Penguin UK, Mari Evans, both of whom immediately saw this book for what it was—a love story. Special thanks to Maddy Wickham, who encouraged me at a point when I was not sure whether I could, or should, actually write it. At Penguin USA, I would like to thank my fantastic editors Pamela Dorman and Julie Miesionczek, as well as Clare Ferraro, president of Viking, who has been such a strong supporter of this book. At Penguin UK, I would also particularly like to thank Louise Moore, Clare Ledingham, and Shân Morley Jones. Thanks to the wonderful team at Curtis Brown, especially Jonny Geller, Tally Garner, Katie McGowan, Alice Lutyens, and Sarah Lewis, for enthusiasm and fine agenting. Huge gratitude to all on the Writersblock board—my own private Fight Club. Minus the Fighty bit. Similarly to India Knight, Sam Baker, Emma Beddington, Trish Deseine, Alex Heminsley, Jess Ruston, Sali Hughes, Tara Manning, and Fanny Blake. Thanks to Lizzie and Brian Sanders, and to Jim, Bea, and Clemmie Moyes. But most of all, as ever, to Charles, Saskia, Harry, and Lockie. Table of Contents Praise for Me Before You Title Page Copyright Dedication Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Epilogue Special Excerpt from The Girl You Left Behind A Penguin Readers Guide to Me Before You Prologue 2007 When he emerges from the bathroom she is awake, propped up against the pillows and flicking through the travel brochures that were beside his bed. She is wearing one of his T-shirts, and her long hair is tousled in a way that prompts reflexive thoughts of the previous night. He stands there, enjoying the brief flashback, rubbing the water from his hair with a towel. She looks up from a brochure and pouts. She is probably slightly too old to pout, but they’ve been going out a short enough time for it still to be cute. “Do we really have to do something that involves trekking up mountains, or hanging over ravines? It’s our first proper holiday together, and there is literally not one single trip in these that doesn’t involve either throwing yourself off something or”—she pretends to shudder—“wearing fleece.” She throws the brochures down on the bed, stretches her caramel-colored arms above her head. Her voice is husky, testament to their missed hours of sleep. “How about a luxury spa in Bali? We could lie around on the sand…spend hours being pampered…long, relaxing nights…” “I can’t do those sorts of holidays. I need to be doing something.” “Like throwing yourself out of airplanes.” “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.” She pulls a face. “If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stick with knocking it.” His shirt is faintly damp against his skin. He runs a comb through his hair and switches on his mobile phone, wincing at the list of messages that immediately pushes its way through onto the little screen. “Right,” he says. “Got to go. Help yourself to breakfast.” He leans over the bed to kiss her. She smells warm and perfumed and deeply sexy. He inhales the scent from the back of her hair, and briefly loses his train of thought as she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him down toward the bed. “Are we still going away this weekend?” He extricates himself reluctantly. “Depends what happens on this deal. It’s all a bit up in the air at the moment. There’s still a possibility I might have to be in New York. Nice dinner somewhere Thursday, either way? Your choice of restaurant.” His motorbike leathers are on the back of the door, and he reaches for them. She narrows her eyes. “Dinner. With or without Mr. BlackBerry?” “What?” “Mr. BlackBerry makes me feel like Miss Gooseberry.” The pout again. “I feel like there’s always a third person vying for your attention.” “I’ll turn it on to silent.” “Will Traynor!” she scolds. “You must have some time when you can switch it off.” “I turned it off last night, didn’t I?” “Only under extreme duress.” He grins. “Is that what we’re calling it now?” He pulls on his leathers. And Lissa’s hold on his imagination is finally broken. He throws his motorbike jacket over his arm, and blows her a kiss as he leaves. There are twenty-two messages on his BlackBerry, the first of which came in from New York at 3:42 A.M. Some legal problem. He takes the lift down to the underground car park, trying to update himself with the night’s events. “Morning, Mr. Traynor.” The security guard steps out of his cubicle. It’s weatherproof, even though down here there is no weather to be protected from. Will sometimes wonders what he does down here in the small hours, staring at the closed-circuit television and the glossy bumpers of £60,000 cars that never get dirty. He shoulders his way into his leather jacket. “What’s it like out there, Mick?” “Terrible. Raining cats and dogs.” Will stops. “Really? Not weather for the bike?” Mick shakes his head. “No, sir. Not unless you’ve got an inflatable attachment. Or a death wish.” Will stares at his bike, then peels himself out of his leathers. No matter what Lissa thinks, he is not a man who believes in taking unnecessary risks. He unlocks the top box of his bike and places the leathers inside, locking it and throwing the keys at Mick, who catches them neatly with one hand. “Stick those through my door, will you?” “No problem. You want me to call a taxi for you?” “No.