Me Before You by JoJo Moyes

My mother recommended this book to me after her book group read it.  It is impossibly sad and you should definitely not read it if you want something with an uncomplicated happy ending, because this book is all kinds of complicated.

The story is about Louisa, a young woman who has basically turned her life over to ensuring the welfare of her family.  When she loses one job, she immediately goes about finding another one in order to spare them from having to support themselvs.  Midway through the story we learn that there might have been a traumatic reason for her exiting having a life of her own and devoting her meager work life to supporting her family, but none-the-less, that is who she is throughout the book.

But it ends up being okay because that is how she meets Will.  He is a man who is quadripalegic and morose enough to have attempted suicide and his family hires her to basically keep him safe and out of harms way.  He is insufferable at first but that changes, and he manages to wiggle his way into Louisa's life in such a way that she will never ever be the same again.What they each gain and how they gain it is well told.  the two major threads are how to get over trauma, and what makes life worth living.  Very nicely done and well worth reading and thinking about.