Room

Emma Donohue

2010 • Picador

I suppose the theme drew me irresistibly because I have two small children (a son who was four when I began Room in April 2008, and a daughter who was one — they’ll be six and three by the time it’s published). In my experience, the bond between mother and newborn is a tiny, cozy world that gradually relaxes its magic to let the rest of the world in. But motherhood — even under ideal circumstances — also has elements of nightmare as well as fairy tale, sci-fi as well as realism: it’s a trip like no other, and it can occasionally feel like (let’s admit it, shall we, mothers of the world?) a locked room. And so can childhood, as I recall: kids are stuck with the parents they get, just as we are stuck with them. So I suppose I wanted to explore the most bizarre of parent-child situations as a way of shedding a new light on that most everyday, banal experience of raising kids.

— Emma Donoghue

Novel English Language

Room

Emma Donohue

2010 • Picador

I suppose the theme drew me irresistibly because I have two small children (a son who was four when I began Room in April 2008, and a daughter who was one — they’ll be six and three by the time it’s published). In my experience, the bond between mother and newborn is a tiny, cozy world that gradually relaxes its magic to let the rest of the world in. But motherhood — even under ideal circumstances — also has elements of nightmare as well as fairy tale, sci-fi as well as realism: it’s a trip like no other, and it can occasionally feel like (let’s admit it, shall we, mothers of the world?) a locked room. And so can childhood, as I recall: kids are stuck with the parents they get, just as we are stuck with them. So I suppose I wanted to explore the most bizarre of parent-child situations as a way of shedding a new light on that most everyday, banal experience of raising kids.