Jojo Moyes writes love stories — her own recently took an unexpected turn
Best-selling British author Jojo Moyes made her name writing about relationships. But ever since “Me Before You” (2012) put her firmly in the literary spotlight, her own relationships stayed out of it. She’s a private person - and her relationships were smooth. But in 2019, she hit choppy waters as her marriage of 22 years ended. During the pandemic she went through a divorce, lost a parent and found herself unable to do what she could always do so easily: write.
When inspiration called, Moyes wanted to deliver something a little closer to home. Her new book, “Someone Else’s Shoes,” centers on female friendships, unexpected love and redefining yourself - in other words, things that helped Moyes herself get through. In a video phone interview last month from her home in the English countryside, Moyes spoke about how she coped and how and why she wrote her latest novel. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q: Do you think your approach to writing romance has changed since you’ve gotten divorced?
A: No. I think the difficulty in answering that question is that I never thought that I wrote romance. I write stories that have love in them. The most romantic thing that happens in this new book is a guy cooks a woman a plate of eggs.
What intrigues me is human relationships. I’ve been in therapy on and off for 20 years, and what fascinates me are the patterns we get into and how our behavior so often goes back to childhood. If I didn’t write books, I would retrain in psychotherapy. Q: In “Someone Else’s Shoes,” there is a pair of heels that serves as a type of armor. How did you decide on that part of the plot?
A: When I started writing this book, I was going through a lot. I had planned to give myself 2020 off because I had become a workaholic in the worst way. I was writing books during the day, working with a team in Los Angeles on a movie adaptation in the evening, then did a really heavy book tour. I fell apart at the end of it. My marriage of 22 years was also falling apart, and my mum was dying of blood cancer; 2020 became about survival. I have never been someone who struggled with mental health, and suddenly I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t write.
Q: Having armor helped you through?
A: You make your bed, wash your hair, put some lipstick on - because it’s those things that give you a tiny sense of achievement to get through the morning. It’s all for myself, because I live in the middle of nowhere.
Q: There is an element of psychotherapy in this book with the character Phil, who is struggling with the death of a parent.
A: I wanted you to think, “This guy needs to kick himself up the backside and get on with it.” But you start to understand that his just showing up is the bravest thing. When my mum was dying and I was agonizing over not having done enough, someone said, “It’s an intolerable situation and you showed up every day and that’s love.” It completely reframed it. I wanted to give this emotional journey to a guy; we’re always showing women doing the work.