Still Me

Still Me (2018) is a novel by Jojo Moyes and forms the final installment in the trilogy featuring Louisa Clark, the heroine of Moyes’s popular book Me Before You (2012). Still Me is preceded by After You (2015), in which Louisa meets and falls in love with Sam even as she comes to terms with the events surrounding Will’s death in the first book, Me Before You. The third book follows Louisa on a journey to New York on a quest to discover herself and her passion, even as she and Sam navigate a relationship from across two sides of an ocean.

Jojo Moyes is a novelist and journalist who has penned a variety of novels and short stories; a number of her books have been bestsellers, including all three featuring the character of Louisa Clark. Me Before You was additionally adapted into a motion picture starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. Still Me, which follows a continuation of events from the first two books and features a number of the same characters, explores themes of self-discovery and open communication in relationships, among others. This guide is based on the 2018 Penguin Books Kindle Edition.

The book contains mentions of sexual assault.

Plot Summary

Louisa Clark, a young Englishwoman, arrives in New York to start work as a social secretary and companion to a wealthy New York family, the Gopniks. Her friend, Nathan, who found her the job, works as a physical therapist to Mr. Gopnik, and Louisa is to assist Mr. Gopnik’s wife Agnes in various social and personal errands. Louisa stays with the family in the servant quarters of their upscale apartment at the Lavery, and the house staff consists of Nathan, herself, and Ilaria, the housekeeper. On her first evening, Louisa encounters Tabitha, Mr. Gopnik’s daughter from his first marriage, who is cold and condescending to both Louisa and Agnes. Louisa befriends the doorman of the Lavery, a warm and friendly man named Ashok. She also has an unpleasant run-in with one of the other residents of the building, an old woman named Margot De Witt, who lives alone with her dog Dean Martin.

Louisa quickly adjusts to her new and extravagant life with the Gopniks and helps Agnes run her affairs throughout the day. Agnes is not well-liked by the society women, as she is Mr. Gopnik’s second wife; her youth and middle-class background are looked down upon, and Agnes confides in Louisa about her family back in Poland and feeling like a misfit in her new life. Louisa works to bolster Agnes’s spirits and attends various society events alongside her. At one such event Louisa meets Josh, a young man from a similarly old and wealthy family, who bears a striking resemblance to Will, who was an old client of Louisa’s whom she had fallen in love with before he passed away.

Louisa’s hectic life and the resultant irregular communication cause strain in her relationship with Sam, her boyfriend, who is a paramedic back home. Sam comes to visit her in New York, but their weekend together is a disaster as he develops food poisoning and is unable to leave the hotel room. Even as he recovers by Monday, Agnes inconsiderately keeps Louisa late at work, and Louisa only arrives in time to see Sam off at the airport.

Agnes’s mercurial mood shifts and volatile and demanding nature slowly begin to take a toll on Louisa. She involves Louisa in conducting a number of affairs in secret, including having Louisa withdraw large amounts of cash to buy and ship a piano for Agnes’s niece in Poland and having Louisa wait in the car while Agnes routinely meets a local artist, Steven Lipkott, with whom Agnes is having an affair. Simultaneously, Louisa discovers that Sam has a new work partner, Katie, who makes Louisa feel insecure. By Sam’s descriptions of Katie’s behavior toward him as well as Louisa’s scrutiny of Katie’s social media posts, Louisa surmises that Katie is attracted to Sam.

During an unexpected break when Agnes travels to Poland to visit family, Louisa explores the city and discovers a vintage clothing store; a fashion aficionado herself, Louisa is thrilled by this. Back at the Lavery, Louisa steps in to babysit Ashok’s children when his wife Meena drops them off at the building as she leaves for a protest to save their neighborhood library. Louisa watches the children in her quarters, but she is nervous since she should not have them in her room. She is discovered by Ilaria, who reveals a maternal soft spot for children and helps Louisa with them. The same evening, Sam arrives to surprise her.

Louisa and Sam spend time together, but Sam is evidently overwhelmed by how different Louisa seems in New York. They also run into Josh at a bar, and Sam is visibly upset and insecure, especially because of how much Josh resembles Will. Back at Louisa’s place, Sam discovers a used pregnancy test in the trash and accuses Louisa of being unfaithful to him; after he leaves, Louisa confronts Agnes, who acknowledges the test is hers and was hidden from Mr. Gopnik, as he does not want any more children.

Louisa spends time with Ashok and Meena, the latter of whom invites her to another protest for the library at Washington Heights, which introduces Louisa to a very different side of New York. Ashok and Meena also invite Louisa home for Thanksgiving, but Louisa is forced to cancel on them when Agnes makes her stay with the Gopniks dinner instead. The Gopniks’ Thanksgiving dinner is a cold and awkward affair, which involves an argument between Tabitha and Agnes that leads Mr. Gopnik to reveal he has had a vasectomy with Agnes’s knowledge. Following Thanksgiving, Agnes heads to Poland again and Louisa is able to go home early for Christmas. Louisa plans to surprise Sam at his place, but when she arrives, she observes him and Katie sharing an intimate moment. Shaken and upset, Louisa leaves without meeting Sam and breaks up with him on Christmas Day when he comes to visit her at her parents’ home.

Back in New York, Louisa continues to assist Agnes with various errands, including waiting for her while she visits Steven Lipkott. On one such occasion Mr. Gopnik calls Louisa, unable to reach Agnes; Louisa rushes into the studio to find Agnes and discovers paintings of Agnes’s niece, whom Agnes reveals is actually her daughter. Overwhelmed by this discovery and feeling generally lonely after having broken up with Sam, Louisa meets Josh for a drink, who ends up taking a very drunk Louisa home to his apartment to keep her safe. The next morning when Louisa goes in to work, Mr. Gopnik fires her for what he believes to be her theft, as he has discovered that she has been making cash withdrawals from his account. Agnes does not defend Louisa, and Louisa in turn does not reveal Agnes’s secret.

Louisa, who is newly unemployed and without a home, is sheltered by Nathan at his quarters for a few days while she looks for work. During this time, Louisa discovers Mrs. De Witt unconscious from a fall in her apartment. She takes her to the hospital and stays on in her apartment to look after Dean Martin at Mrs. De Witt’s request. Louisa eventually finds work at the vintage clothing store and continues to stay with Mrs. De Witt even when she returns from the hospital, as the old woman seems old and frail. The two strike up an unlikely friendship cemented by a shared love of fashion. After learning about Mrs. De Witt’s history, which includes that she has a son from whom she is estranged, Louisa tracks down and contacts her son, Vincent, who comes to see her. Mrs. De Witt is overjoyed, especially as Vincent later helps her reconcile with her son Frank as well. Louisa also learns that Mrs. De Witt has cancer; when Frank comes back into her life, she takes him up on her offer to live with him and leaves Louisa in charge of the apartment and bequeaths her entire wardrobe to Louisa.

Simultaneously, Louisa begins a short-lived relationship with Josh that comes to an abrupt end when it becomes evident that he is embarrassed of her work and the way she dresses, as he pressures her to change outfits when she attends work events with him and lies to his colleagues about what she does. Louisa also receives news that her granddad has passed away. She meets Sam at the funeral back home, which unsettles her.

As Louisa stays on in Mrs. De Witt’s apartment, she looks for ways to start a business with the vast wardrobe she has inherited from the older woman. Sam, who is no longer with Katie, begins to write to her, and Louisa and Sam repair their relationship through their correspondence. Mr. Gopnik, who eventually finds out the truth about Agnes and her child, also meets with Louisa to apologize and make amends; Louisa, in turn, asks him to make a donation to save the Washington Heights library, which has been rechristened in Will’s name. Louisa eventually decides that she wants to stay on in New York and start a small business renting out vintage clothes, and she asks Sam to join her. The book ends with the two meeting once again at the Rockefeller Center observation deck.