Book review – After You by Jojo Moyes
Fans of Jojo Moyes (and I’m one of them) have been on tenterhooks for months, waiting for the publication of After You, the long-awaited sequel to the mega-selling Me Before You.
Well, today is the big day and After You is out at last.
Writing a follow-up to a book as loved as Me Before You is no mean feat but Jojo has accomplished it with style and aplomb. She admitted herself that she hadn’t intended to write a sequel. But working on the movie script (the film of Me Before You will be out in 2016 – another treat in store) and reading countless tweets asking “what did Lou do with her life?” gave her the idea to revisit her characters.
I’m sure you could read After You as a standalone novel but it would be a shame. Me Before You has sold more than six million copies worldwide and has been translated into 39 languages so there can’t be that many people who haven’t read it. If you’re one of them I suggest you snap it up immediately and then get stuck into After You.
When I blogged about Me Before You back in 2012 I described it as “an uplifting, wonderful read – a believable love story that makes you laugh, cry and think about a person’s right to live or die.”
I’m so determined not to spoil the plot that all I’ll say is that After You is another uplifting and wonderful read, largely because Lou Clark is such a quirky, engaging and utterly convincing character. Best of all, Jojo has kept the warmth and insight of Me Before You, brought back Lou’s hilarious family, thrown in a huge surprise along the way and combined the lot into a brilliant new novel. Readers new and old have got a treat in store.
After You by Jojo Moyes (Michael Joseph, £20)