Me Before You: A Novel

that claustrophobic little town we both call home, and from the kind of choices you have so far felt you had to make.
    I’m not giving the money to you because I want you to feel wistful, or indebted to me, or to feel that it’s some kind of bloody memorial.
    I’m giving you this because there is not much that makes me happy any more, but you do.
    I am conscious that knowing me has caused you pain, and grief, and I hope that one day when you are less angry with me and less upset you will see not just that I could only have done the thing that I did, but also that this will help you live a really good life, a better life, than if you hadn’t met me.
    You’re going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. It always does feel strange to be knocked out of your comfort zone. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Your face when you came back from diving that time told me everything; there is a hunger in you, Clark. A fearlessness. You just buried it, like most people do.
    I’m not really telling you to jump off tall buildings, or swim with whales or anything (although I would secretly love to think you were), but to live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Wear those stripy legs with pride. And if you insist on settling down with some ridiculous bloke, make sure some of this is squirrelled away somewhere. Knowing you still have possibilities is a luxury. Knowing I might have given them to you has alleviated something for me.
    So this is it. You are scored on my heart, Clark. You were from the first day you walked in, with your ridiculous clothes and your bad jokes and your complete inability to ever hide a single thing you felt. You changed my life so much more than this money will ever change yours.
    Don’t think of me too often. I don’t want to think of you getting all maudlin. Just live well.
    Just
live
.
    Love,
    Will
    A tear had plopped on to the rickety table in front of me. I wiped at my cheek with my palm, and put the letter down on the table. It took me some minutes to see clearly again.
    ‘Another coffee?’ said the waiter, who had reappeared in front of me.
    I blinked at him. He was younger than I had thought, and had dropped his faint air of haughtiness. Perhaps Parisian waiters were trained to be kind to weeping women in their cafes.
    ‘Maybe … a cognac?’ He glanced at the letter and smiled, with something resembling understanding.
    ‘No,’ I said, smiling back. ‘Thank you. I’ve … I’ve got things to do.’
    I paid the bill, and tucked the letter carefully into my pocket.
    And stepping out from behind the table, I straightened my bag on my shoulder and set off down the street towards the parfumerie and the whole of Paris beyond.

Acknowledgements
    Thank you to my agent, Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown, and to my editor, Mari Evans at Penguin, both of whom immediately saw this book for what it is – 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.
    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.
    At Penguin, I would also particularly like to thank Louise Moore, Clare Ledingham and Shân Morley Jones.
    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.

Q&A with Jojo
    1. Tell us a little about where your ideas for your characters and their stories come from.
    They come from all over the place. It’s often a snippet of conversation or a news story that just lodges in my head and won’t go away. Sometimes I get an idea for a character too, and then unconsciously start knitting them together.
Me Before You
is the most ‘high concept’ book I’ve ever written – in that I could describe it in two sentences. But most of them are a lot more organic, and just contain lots of ideas and things that I’ve pulled together. With this book I think the issue of quality of life was probably to the front of my mind as I have/had two relatives who were facing life in care homes, and I know that in one case she would probably have chosen any