The story of a mother, her son, a locked room and the outside world.
Jack is five and, like any little boy, excited at the prospect of
presents and cake. He's looking forward to telling his friends it's his
birthday, too. But although Jack is a normal child in many ways –
loving, funny, bright, full of energy and questions – his upbringing is
far from ordinary : Jack's entire life has been spent in a single room
that measures just 12 feet by 12 feet; as far as he's concerned, Room
is the entire world.
He shares this world with his mother, with Plant, and tiny Mouse
(though Ma isn't a fan and throws a book at Mouse when she sees him).
There's TV too, of course – and the cartoon characters he thinks of as
his friends – but Jack knows that nothing else he sees on the screen is
real. Old Nick, on the other hand, is all too real, but only visits at
night – like a bat – when Jack is meant to be asleep and hidden safely
in Wardrobe. And only Old Nick has the code to Door, which is otherwise
locked . . .
Told in Jack's voice, Room is the story
of a mother's love for her son, and of a young boy's innocence.
About the Author
Born in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish writer who lives in Canada. Her fiction includes includes the best-selling Slammerkin.
Industry Reviews
'Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness. Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it's over you look up: the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days.' Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveller's Wife
'Room is one of the most profoundly affecting books I've read in a long time. Jack moved me greatly. His voice, his story, his innocence, his love for Ma combine to create something very unusual and, I think, something very important . . . Room deserves to reach the widest possible audience.' John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
'I've never read a more heart-burstingly, gut wrenchingly compassionate novel . . . As for sweet, bright, funny Jack, I wanted to scoop him up out of the novel and never let him go.' Daily Mail
'This is a truly remarkable novel. It presents an utterly unique way to talk about love, all the while giving us a fresh, expansive eye on the world in which we live.' New York Times Book Review
'Startlingly original and moving . . . Endearing and as utterly compelling as The Lovely Bones.' Scotsman
'This book will break your heart . . . It is the most vivid, radiant and beautiful expression of maternal love I have ever read.' Irish Times
'I loved Room. Such incredible imagination, and dazzling use of language. And with all this, an entirely credible, endearing little boy. It's unlike anything I've ever read before.' Anita Shreve
