Emma Donoghue
Nominated for the Man Book Prize in 2010, this is an almost unimaginable story. Five-year-old Jack lives in a locked room - "Room" - with his mother, Ma, and has done all his life. He believes that Room is the only "real" part of the world. Everything he sees "in TV" is "Outside" and therefore not real.
One day Ma lets it slip to Jack that there is actually a world outside Room and she suddenly realises that they must now try to escape. Once they finally emerge into the world, Jack has a hard time coping with anything, as does Ma.
Written from Jack's point of view, this book really makes you think about what we take for granted every day in "Outside".
Not at all sensationalist (as books about kidnap and imprisonment can be), this is a very well-written book that grips you from the start, about a woman re-entering the world and a boy encountering it for the very first time as a five-year-old.
(Reviewed by Angela)
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