Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

Read Room. Five-year-old Jack tells readers about his world. It's small. He and his Ma are the only people in the world. Sometimes Old Nick visits at night. Jack isn't sure where he stays the rest of the time. Room is the universe, nothing exists outside it: this is the premise of the book.

Emma Donoghue unfolds Jack's world so that readers gradually understand the truth. We know there's a world outside the room where Ma is captive and where Jack was both conceived and born. How Jack comes to understand this is only a part of Room; there's so much more to the book and his story. Donoghue gets a five-year-old's voice perfect.

Another much heralded recent book had a similar premise: a woman is kidnapped and held captive. It's a thriller and horrible. The author may have just published her psychological files. Room is the opposite. It's not a thriller, it's an exploration of parenthood and child development.

Read Room now: you'll be proud to have discovered it before everyone else does.