Me Before You was published by Michael Joseph (Penguin) in 2012, becoming an international phenomenon — translated into over forty-six languages, selling more than fourteen million copies worldwide, and adapted into a 2016 film starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. The novel made Moyes one of the bestselling authors in the world and generated enormous controversy for its treatment of assisted suicide and disability.
Louisa Clark is twenty-six, living in a small English town, working at a cafe, dating a man who doesn’t notice her, and going nowhere. When the cafe closes, she takes a job as a companion/carer for Will Traynor — thirty-five, formerly a high-powered London financier and extreme sports enthusiast, now quadriplegic after being hit by a motorcycle. Will is angry, bitter, and has given his parents six months before he will travel to Dignitas in Switzerland to end his life.
The novel follows their six months together: Lou’s initially clumsy attempts to engage Will, his gradual thawing, and the growing emotional intimacy between them. Lou discovers that Will’s family hired her specifically hoping she would change his mind. She throws herself into the project — planning adventures, pushing him toward engagement with life — and falls in love with him. The question the novel forces is whether love is enough to override a person’s autonomous decision about their own life.
The ending — Will goes to Dignitas despite Lou’s love — generated fierce debate. Disability rights advocates criticized the novel for implying that life with quadriplegia is not worth living; defenders argued that it honors individual autonomy and refuses the sentimental resolution where love conquers all.
Collecting Me Before You
First edition (Michael Joseph / Penguin, London, 2012): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First UK edition in dust jacket: $30–$80
- Signed first edition: $60–$150
- US first (Viking/Pamela Dorman, 2012): $15–$40