Jojo Moyes says Sophie Kinsella encouraged her to finish writing Me Before You

Author Jojo Moyes has said the late author Sophie Kinsella, who wrote the Shopaholic series, encouraged her to finish writing her bestselling novel Me Before You.

Sophie Kinsella, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, died in December after being diagnosed with a form of aggressive brain cancer.

Prior to Kinsella’s death, Moyes credited her for convincing her to complete the romance novel which, after years of little commercial success, went on to become an international bestseller and was later adapted into the 2016 film with the same name starring Game Of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke and Love Rosie star Sam Claflin.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs with Lauren Laverne, Moyes said she nearly gave up on the novel after writing 20,000 words.

She said: “I met up with my friend Sophie Kinsella and had lunch with her and I was broke at the time and I was feeling quite depressed because I thought my writing career was coming to an end.

“I told her the story of my 20,000 words over lunch and she just looked at me, and she said, ‘You have to write this book, you do know that? You have to write this book’.

“When I got home, her husband, Henry, he called me up and said, Jojo, Maddy, which is her real name, told me about this book and I think you should write it too.

“I love her for many reasons, but that’s one of them.”

The book follows Louisa “Lou” Clark who takes a job as a caregiver for William “Will” Traynor, a wealthy, paralysed man who has lost the will to live, is based on a news story Moyes had seen about a young young rugby player who had been left quadriplegic after an accident and persuaded his parents to take him to the Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas.

Speaking about the process of writing the bestselling book, Moyes added: “I did cry.

“I’ve learned over the years – I think I’ve written 18 books now, or nearly written 18 books, and if I don’t cry, the reader’s not going to cry. Or if I don’t make myself laugh, which is a terrible thing to say about your own jokes, then the reader’s not going to laugh.

“I remember there’s a letter at the end of this book that Will has written to Lou, and I remember writing it and sobbing so hard that the man in the next office came next door to see if I was OK and I had to sort of say snottily, it’s going really well, thanks for asking.

“I knew I loved this book and I knew it was the best version of itself that it could be, but I had no idea it was going to resonate in the way that it did.”

Following the book’s success, Moyes published a sequel in 2016 titled After You followed by Still Me in 2018.

The full interview can be heard from Sunday at 10am on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.