Jo Cox: More in Common

by Brendan Cox

'Jo Cox's selfless service to others made the world a better place' Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

THE NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Jo's dedication to a fairer and kinder world beautifully told ...' Bear Grylls | 'A desperately tender account ... part love story, part grief memoir ... resolutely uplifting' Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian | 'Brave, inspiring, and full of love' Daily Express | 'A chance to get to know the woman behind the headlines - a tiny ball of energy with a heart as big as a lion, a person who wanted to make a difference' Lorraine Kelly, Sun

Jo Cox's murder in June 2016 shocked the world. In the aftermath of her tragic death her husband Brendan Cox urged us to remember Jo's life and what she stood for and not the manner of her death. In this inspiring and impassioned portrait of Jo - as daughter, mother, wife, sister, MP and campaigner - we see how much she gave and much more she had to give. The values she embraced of togetherness, inclusion and compassion are needed now more than ever. A touching and very human portrait of an extraordinary woman, whose legacy has already inspired others.
'We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.'

Winner of the Best Political Book by a non-Parliamentarian (Parliamentary Book Awards)

All Brendan Cox's royalties will go to the Jo Cox Foundation.

'Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.'

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Politics

358 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2017

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried a lot in the middle seat on a plane listening to this audiobook. (I’m not an audiobook person but I get very motion sick and I can’t read on planes, so a few people suggested I try a nonfiction book narrated by the author. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any of the ones I was looking for, but when browsing the nonfiction section Jo Cox’s biography caught my eye, which I had been interested in reading for a while. Luke Thompson does a good job with the narration - empathetic but not overly sentimental in a tale already rightfully wrought with sentiment.)

Anyway, this book wrecked me. I’m not British, and I’ll admit to not knowing anything about Jo Cox until her murder in 2016. But I remember looking her up that day, seeing her relatively young face, reading briefly about her politics, and just feeling very deeply sad.

In her biography written by her husband and fellow politician Brendan, we delve into the life and politics of an incredibly strong, inspiring, and resilient individual. I have so much respect for Brendan Cox to be able to write this biography only nine months after Jo's murder, in the midst of grieving the loss of his wife and mother of his two young children. Brendan's love for Jo shines through every page of this book, but he still manages to depict her as a real and flawed person.

From her background working with Oxfam to her humanitarian efforts in developing countries to her passion for providing aid to Syrian civilians, Jo’s work and personal life were both characterized by her fervor and determination to provide equal opportunities to as many people as her efforts would reach. It's an effort that is thankfully ongoing - all proceeds from this book go to the Jo Cox Foundation.

And even though I’m sadder now knowing what a truly beautiful soul was lost that day, I think it's incredible just how much positive change Jo was able to instigate in her short life. This is a book that everyone should read - Jo's story is one that everyone should hear, regardless of interest in or knowledge of British politics.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can you rate this book? You just can't, it would be wrong as it is just so full of love and sadness. What I will say is read it if you want to read about true love, the love of a mum for her kids, husband and wife for each other, of a woman passionate about making a difference in the world and for those who need representing. A woman who wasn't partisan, but would remonstrate with her own party as much as she would work with those from all parties if it made a difference. Jo Cox was clearly an amazing and inspirational woman and her story deserves to be told and who better to tell it than her husband. Just read it because if more people read her words, then maybe the message will spread and more people will live their life being nice and with love, exemplifying what Jo Cox said about us having more in common. If you aren't inspired after you read it, I'll be amazed

[Diane Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has got to have been one of the hardest reads of my life. I found myself in floods of tears so many times while reading it and had to take it in stages - it was just too painful. To read the chapter "Cuillin's Song" just broke my heart; to read about the song Jo's five year son, Cuillin, wrote to his mum and which he sang to and with his dad and his sister, Lejla, the day after his mother was murdered, was harrowing. I cried buckets reading it and am crying buckets now writing this review.

But what came out of this book SO strongly was Jo's zest for life and her unbound love of her children, her husband, her family and people in general. What an amazing woman she was and I sincerely wish I had had the chance to meet her. While I may not have agreed with everything she believed politically, she nevertheless stuck to her principles in the face of some very harsh criticism and showed such courage in doing so.

The other chapter that struck me was the chapter on the trial of the man who had perpetrated this barbaric and cowardly act. Brendan's speech at the end of the trial particularly impressed me when he turned to the defendant (who had refused to look at Brendan and Jo's family throughout the trial) and said:

"We are not here to plead for retribution. We have no interest in the perpetrator. We feel nothing but pity for him; that his life was so devoid of love that his only way of finding meaning was to attack a defenceless woman who represented the best of our country in an act of supreme cowardice."

The rest of his speech was made to the jury where he spoke about Jo and her life and all the things she had achieved in the nearly 42 years she was with us. He finished by saying:

"The killing of Jo was, in my view, a political act, an act of terrorism - but in the history of such acts it was perhaps the most incompetent and self-defeating. An act driven by hatred which instead has created an outpouring of love. An act which was designed to drive communities apart which has instead pulled them together. An act designed to silence a voice which instead has allowed millions of others to hear it."

One of the main lessons we can learn from this book and Jo's life, I feel, is that it is incumbent upon us all to deny notoriety to those people, extremists, who perpetrate such terrible acts of violence to try to gain fame. For that reason I have purposely not searched for the name of Jo's killer (and Brendan did not name him in the book) - his name should never be remembered and should fade from people's memories.

Instead, we should all reach out to others and

"Love Like Jo!"

[Callum McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful. Inspiring. Necessary.

For those who don't know, Jo Cox was a humanitarian campaigner who worked with Oxfam for many years, and a member of the British parliament. In 2016, she was murdered by a white supremacist and Nazi sympathiser because of her international outlook, and her pro-Europe and pro-immigration beliefs.

The beauty (and heartbreak) of this book, written by Jo's own husband, is that it doesn't paint Jo as a politician, nor a victim, nor even some saintly figure now that she's gone. Instead, it's a portrait of a very real, very good human being, who stood with dignity and positivity for what she believed in.

This is a woman who in her first year as an MP, put as much effort into setting up an initiative to support civilians in Syria as she did an initiative to support lonely old people in her hometown; a woman who took part in parliamentary votes wearing her cycling gear so that she could rush home in time to put her kids to bed; a woman who was just as quick to publicly criticise the failings of her own Party as she was those of the opposition; a woman who was just as likely to spend her holidays volunteering with vulnerable children in Africa as she was hiking up mountains in Scotland; a woman who forgot her bike when she went on a cycling trip and often had to eat on-the-go since she was forever running late; a woman who loved to dance with her friends, brew her own elderflower champagne, and make up stories about a heroic fieldmouse called Finley for her children. This is a woman who, as she lay dying on the ground, shouted at her colleagues to run away so that they wouldn't get hurt too.

Jo's vibrancy, decency and lust for life come alive on the pages. Brendan Cox has done such an incredible job, writing with passion, grace, honesty and respect for a woman he so clearly loves and admires. In doing so, I can't see how anyone who reads it could fail to admire her and her many accomplishments too. His willingness to pick up Jo's mantle and keep her voice alive have to be praised (it's also worth noting that all his profits will go to the Jo Cox Foundation, which aims to end injustice and bring communities back together through continuing the campaigns Jo herself took on).

As Jo famously said in her maiden speech in parliament: "We are far more united, and have far more in common, than that which divides us." Let's hope Jo's story; her life, her successes, her beliefs and, indeed, her tragic death, can help to spread this vital message in a time when we could all do with hearing it.

[Lil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating, yet filled with hope. Beautifully written by a devoted husband and a great human being.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring read about a woman fired up for the issues she loved and the life she lead. I am inspired by her tenacity to keep achieving her goals of a better world in the face of hatred and cruel forces.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ooooooh, a tough review and, you might argue, why even read a book so much of the content of which is already in the public domain, the essentials of which had already been conveyed in the astonishing statement written on the train journey North during which Brendan Cox had been informed that his wife had died? Not "Why write it?": that's abundantly clear, but Jo Cox's widower has some very useful lessons to convey, slightly more explicitly than the implicit messages he's already put out there but still more show than tell and all the better for that.

A decent and recent, and, dare I say it? pretty and young, MP, mother of two young children, is fatally shot and stabbed, going about her constituency business in the run up to a divisive referendum by someone who planned the attack and displayed all the dreary hallmarks of the stereotypical right wing terrorist driven by personal grievances. This shocking event rightly captured the public imagination, all the more so for her own words in her maiden speech and the words and demeanour of her grieving husband since. But although his life's work is a lot to do with politics and words, it could still have been possible to write a bad book about good people. He's drawn in Don McRae to assist him and in the alternating chapters, their lives, and the circumstances immediately before and since her death, I sometimes wondered if I could detect the not especially fascinating style of writers and ghosters of popular biographies, but it may have been the other way round! And it may have been necessary to have someone else in to pull the narrative together. Jo Cox's diary extracts are not exactly pearls of literature... which only serves to confirm she wasn't writing as a political diarist with an eye to the future. There's enough about 'failings' (despite being mostly of the sort that somehow come out looking positive - though when he says they could be annoying I believe him), beyond leaving a ring on her Mum's furniture with a hot cup, to avoid the Theresa May wheatfield trap.

I was slightly disturbed when one of Cox's first thoughts was to contact a child psychologist. It is only later, reading more about his previous volunteering with children who have experienced trauma, that I understood why this was, and that he had earned his connections. He includes a lot of details which show implicitly why, thus far at least, he and their families and friends were and continue to be resilient... the countless small decisions which have to be made and got mostly right, the realism about young children as well as some things to which not everyone has access.

It is a book of its moment... I wonder if Jo Cox would now quite so decisively regret having helped get Jeremy Corbyn on the leadership ballot. There's enough information for people to get a sense of her opinions and disagree with some, but I would hope be less inclined to be dismissive of the entire political class too. I note there's a review on Amazon which shows perhaps that there's an army of people who share the opinions of her killer and who write in a way that does not reassure they would never cross the same line. Hence, the book was necessary vigilance.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's one of those watershed questions... Where were you when you heard so-and-so died? I was in work when I heard an MP had been attacked. Then by the afternoon it was released that the MP had died and that it was Jo Cox. Had never heard of her before then. Now it's a name and a person who I will never forget for as long as I live.

You can't read this without asking why? You can't read this without re-living the tragedy. It sits raw on your consciousness still. It's all so wrong. And yet it happened. An act of terror by some wanker. I had tears streaming down my face reading Brendan's account of dealing with and confronting the aftermath of Jo's murder - alongside their two young kids, their families and their friends. It's heartbreaking.Tears were similarly streaming down my face at the chapters which look back at Jo's life and of course, Brendan's Family Impact Statement which he read out at the end of the Trial. More often than not politicians are evasive bastards. Jo was different and what is blindingly obvious is that had this never happened, God only knows the greatness she could have achieved for people the world over, not just in her constituency of Batley & Spen.

THIS IS A MUST-READ FOR EVERYONE!

[Jeremy Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jo's husband's bio of her progresses from her upbringing in Yorkshire through her academic achievements, early career, and rise to become an MP. Good book to read for an insight into how people with the same DNA as us work with a busy and underresourced team through the process of entering Parliament, and of the work MPs do: mainstream media usually give us an unfairly negative view of them as individuals, each meeting each day challenges from young children to internal discords even among their own parties.
Something of a hagiography, because Brendan wrote it as an exercise in overcoming the challenges he himself faced in suddenly finding himself left with two young children after the love of his life was murdered. More on her reactions to the strains of her parliamentary career, and the strains on their own relationship, would have been interesting. But given their children's age, Brendan is probably better for writing this reflection and celebration.

[Delwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great biography and good to read it just after the first anniversary of Jo Cox's death and 'the great get together' in her memory. I wept my way through much of the book and feel a bit teary just sitting here thinking back over the events and writing this. I found it very interesting to read more about Jo Cox's life, how fully she lived it and what contributions she made, it would be a shame if she was only known for how she died.
The book covers Jo's life, the days leading up to her death and the day she died and how her husband, the author Brendan Cox, and their young children have coped in the last year. I found Jo's life has inspired me to get out and do more, rather than just thinking about doing it, and that chapters about how life is unfolding for the family since Jo's death very moving.
Recommended.

[Sofya_ch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

An inspirational memoir about life and career of Jo Cox, a British labour MP, who was brutally killed by an extremist in 2016. Her drive to help people, to stand up against injustice and violence around the world, the account of her diverse career were very moving. I especially liked the excerpts from her diaries and a chance to glimpse into her daily life and her personal struggles throughout different times of her life. The call to pay more attention for things we have in common, rather than focus on the divergences resonates deeply. Finally, I admired greatly her ability to balance out a successful career, family and hobbies - and it's something I can only hope to recreate in my own life.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a heart breaking loss Jo Cox's murder is. We definitely need her around to help heal the terrible divides, inequality and brutality of our country and wider world. Above all what a tragedy for her family.

I was scared to read this book because of all the pain and loss but I needant have worried. The format of the switching chapters between 'now and 'then' worked well and it was fascinating to understand more about Jo's background, varied career and busy life. Parliament needs her still.

I was impressed by the approach the family have taken in response to their loss rooted in the idea that her murderer wanted to silence her but has ensured her message is loud and clear and will be remembered. But at such a terrible cost.

I will remember her.

[Nin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I need to talk in simple language while explaining the permanance of death" - Brendan Cox's poetic description of informing his children of their mother's death, in part, becomes an apt summary of More in Common. Whilst remaining an emotionally fraught and devastating account of the impenetrable grief of a life lost, Cox's book also talks, in simple language, of the omnipotent beauty and joy of being alive. Jo's life is paradoxically at odds with her horrific death, but I can't think of a better testament to a human life than the fantastic eulogy to love and loss that Brendan Cox has achieved here.

[Alicia Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't lie guys, this book is hard to read in places, Brendan's pain echoes through... but it's not 'too difficult', where there are chapters that sting, and hurt, there is always another following that screams of the joy and passion Jo had in her life, and her heart.

Anyone who was 'a fan' or simply inspired to be better by her should read this, learn from it and treasure it. I definitely did, enough so I plan to buy my own copy as soon as I can.

I want to finish with a simple quote that always sticks out in this book: 'Jo believed we were better together'.

She was right.

[Gary Knapton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m three quarters through this. Blast from the past! White Lee and the barley fields and grammar school and all that jazz. Joanne and Kim took the street behind them by storm (our street) and seemed to charm Paul and Joanne Manklow, Andrew and Lindsey Stead, Wayne and Claire Gilderdale. Claire Hughes. I just kept skateboarding. Gordon had a white VW Polo and he’d drive them to school every day. They’d pass me on Brighton Street. I always sit on the bench in Birstall village and think of when we were kids. Lovely memories.

[Pernille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. If I could give six stars, I would! I've been an emotional wreck every time I've picked up this book, which unfortunately has meant crying on countless buses, trains and flights. But Brendan Cox describes his late wife and their life together so vividly and with so much love that it is impossible not to be swept along with it. I'm sorry I didnt know more about Jo Cox while she lived, as she seems to have been an exceptionally inspiring person, but I'm glad I do now.

[Sue Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew me away. What a woman, what a loss! I found myself agreeing and agreeing with her point of view all through the book. Her ideas chime perfectly with mine as I watch folks withdrawing, becoming more insular, and barricading themselves behind ever more solid and taller gates, even where I live in rural Wiltshire. What is happening? Are we afraid of each other now? Good on you Brendan, you've done a really great job, Jo would be proud.

[Francisco Machado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. A beautiful book on so many levels even though it follows the murder of a mother of two innocent children. Brendan Cox has managed the impossible. He is so brave. A book about never giving up, fighting for what you believe in, love and cherishing your family and friends. Tragic and yet wonderful. Read it. You won’t regret the time you spend on this wonderful family.

[Moirad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartwrenching. A very emotional account of Jo Cox's life and death by her husband, which emphasizes her enthusiasm, love for life, her family, and hometown, and her passion for the many causes she supported. It is so dispiriting that the optimism he voices (the book was written within the first few months after her murder) about the country coming together has not borne fruit.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was really good, a very personal insight into what happened to Jo and how the family have been coping since. It is broken up with chapters of Jo's early life and her career and also Brendan's and Jo's love story.

This has been put together beautifully please read if you get chance.

[Danielle Brereton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as research for a podcast episode I was creating about what happened to Jo and it gave a truly insightful view of this woman's life and how much her family and friends cared for her. A real tear-jerker.

[Jess Lander · Rating 5 out of 5]

So heartbreaking but so full of love. I don’t usually enjoy non-fiction but the life of Jo Cox is so beautifully portrayed by Brendan. Her life, memory and everything she stood for truly does live on in this book!

[Lenka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just how can one give rating or review to someone else's life? So very heart-breaking. Such an incredible, inspiring woman. Fellow wild spirit. I'll never forget you, Jo. #LoveLikeJo

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A necessary read, much more hopeful than the documentary. A reminder to do things instead of just becoming angry.

[C E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and touching

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth a read, a bit of an emotional rollercoaster and really makes you think about how you would react in the same situation.

[Mairead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent narrative of the life of Jo Cox. Offers a real insight into what made her the person she was. Well worth a read.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful tribute to a beautiful woman who was making, and will continue to make, a difference. I would have liked more pictures - especially those described in detail.

[Emma Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very sad book to read but an interesting insight into the woman Jo Cox was. Inspiring and tragic.

[Jane Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

So inspiring; this book helps show you that politics is not a die either way option and is subjective to each individual. Get ready to cry within 50 pages mind..