Moyes revisits Lou Clark in online story

Jojo Moyes has written a story featuring the heroine of her bestselling novel Me Before You, Lou Clark, and exploring how the character may be coping in lockdown.

The piece, dipping back into the world of Lou Clark, will be released on Wednesday (3rd June) on the Penguin site.

"Is she with her loved ones? Has she been furloughed? Does she have a saucepan suitable for making the loudest noise for the Thursday night clap?" Penguin asks. "Jojo’s piece will give readers those answers and moments of escape, in the heartfelt, heart-breaking, and funny way her fans will recognise."

Subscribers to Moyes’s author newsletter will be able to access the story early, before it becomes freely accessible online. The initiative generated nearly 3,000 new subscribers in less than 24 hours, the publisher said.

Me Before You has now sold over 14 million copies worldwide, according to Penguin Random House, with global sales of the Lou Clark trilogy sitting at over 21 million. Through Nielsen BookScan, up to 21st March, the trilogy in total had sold a combined 2.7 million copies in the UK. Clark was also brought to life in the 2016 film adaptation of Me Before You which saw Emilia Clarke take on the role.

Speaking about writing the nearly 9,000-word piece, Moyes said: "I didn’t have any plans to revisit Lou Clark after the end of the Me Before You trilogy. But I, like many people, have struggled my way through this pandemic, and it gradually occurred to me that writing about how Lou and her family coped with lockdown would be the perfect way to bring a bit of cheer to those readers who loved her, during a tricky few months for all of us. She made me laugh and smile (and even well up a little) while I worked on this story, and I hope very much that you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it."