Me Before You Study Guide

Jojo Moyes grew up in London, England and attended Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University. After graduating, Moyes received a bursary for the postgraduate newspaper journalism course at City University, London. In 1992, Moyes began working for The Independent newspaper and eventually became the Assistant News Editor in 1998. In 2002, Moyes started her career as a full-time novelist with the publication of her book Sheltering Sky. Since then, Moyes has written 11 novels, and won the Romantic Novelist’s Award twice for her books The Last Letter from your Lover in 2011 and Foreign Fruit in 2004. Me Before You was also nominated for the Book of the Year at the UK Galaxy Book Awards. She now lives on a farm in Essex, England with her husband and their three children.

The novel centers on Will’s decision to end his own life, bringing to light the Right to Die debates about rational suicide. The Right to Die has been a controversial issue in many countries around the world, as certain religions or ethical codes recognize a person’s right to have autonomy over their own life while other doctrines are morally against suicide. Euthanasia, or assisted suicide, is legal in Switzerland, as Will goes to Dignitas Institute in Zurich rather than ending his life in the UK. Dignitas is a Swiss nonprofit member’s society that provides assisted or accompanied suicide to members who suffer from sever terminal, physical, or mental illnesses. Members must be of sound judgment, able to perform themselves the act of suicide, and must submit a formal report that includes a letter of intent as well as a complete medical history of their illness or condition. Dignitas has also been involved in several court cases regarding assisted suicide and has been a part of multiple documentaries about the right to die. As Dignitas is accused of being pro-death, they have met with profound opposition in the UK and elsewhere, and the issue has become a polarizing political platform in the UK in the 2000s and 2010s.

Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You belongs to the tradition of realistic romance novels such as One Day by David Nicholls, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, or The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. All of these books follow their protagonists as they search for love in tragic circumstances. Me Before You also plays with the traditions of realistic novels that deal with thorny moral dilemmas, such as Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper.