Our host Vick Hope is joined by bestselling author Jojo Moyes.
Jojo Moyes is a novelist and screenwriter. Her novels have been translated into forty-six languages, have hit the number one spot in twelve countries and have sold over fifty-seven million copies worldwide. Me Before You has now sold over fourteen million copies and was adapted into a major film starring Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke. In 2023, Jojo joined BBC Maestro’s online platform of world-class experts with her course, Writing Love Stories, which is available now. She was a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2013.
Her latest book, We All Live Here, takes us to the heart of the Kennedy household, in a moving family saga about love, friendship and what matters most. Listen to the full conversation here and read on to see Jojo’s top five most influential books by women.

What is really radical about this book is that it is one woman facilitating another woman to achieve a physically impossible feat. When do you see that kind of story written about girls? You just don’t. Mothers in fiction tend to be the dead – the majority of them are killed off in the first chapter, or they are annoying, they are cloying, anxious, nitpicky – Velvet’s mother in this book is a big silent hulk of a woman whose kindness comes out in action […] I love that this book taught me that I could do anything, be anything, with the right determination and right support. These kinds of messages stay with you.

I think this was the first book that told me that a woman could be the funniest person in a room, or the cleverest. When I grew up in the 70s and 80s, there was definitely a vibe that women should be pretty and not particularly mouthy […] She just knows about human nature, about men and women.

I remember reading this book and I suddenly understood voice. This book is written with such a consistent tone and it’s funny but in a very dry way and it’s heartbreaking. But it’s also just fearless! I mean, the book starts with a sperm – it’s so brave! […] The way the women talk to each other in this book, I just got it. And then I wrote my next book “Sheltering Rain” which became my debut.

I think this was the first book that showed me the power of humour. I remember crying with laughter in bed while reading this book. I thought I will read anything that this woman writes. She covers quite bleak topics as well – she’s taken a terrible event and she’s made it funny and packaged it up with humour.

It’s about growing up in a patriarchy and not understanding how it impacts your own desire and sexuality […] It’s beautiful and it’s sad, and you feel for these women even if you don’t agree with the choices that they make. But isn’t that life? We all make inexplicable, nonsense choices and we all do really stupid things. There’s a beauty in (Lisa’s) refusal to judge them that I love.