Room

by Emma Donoghue

First published 2011

Jack has never left Room. The five year old knows every inch of the eleven by eleven foot space where he lives with Ma. They have routines for everything. Meals, games, exercise, lessons. At night Ma tucks him into Wardrobe before Old Nick arrives. Jack thinks this is normal life. Ma knows better. She has been trapped here for seven years, ever since Old Nick took her. She built Jack a world inside their prison through pure determination and love. Now Jack asks more questions. Ma feels her desperation growing. The small space that kept them alive cannot hold them much longer. Ma must find a way out, but first she has to convince Jack that another world exists beyond the walls he calls home. Their survival depends on the unbreakable connection between mother and son.

Genres: fiction, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator

Setting: Room

Period: 21st-century

334 pages · Paperback · Little, Brown Paperbacks

Content warnings: child-abuse, domestic-violence

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