Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. They don't have the key. Jack and Ma are prisoners. 'This book will break your heart ...It is the most vivid, radiant and beautiful expression of maternal love I have ever read' - "Irish Times". 'Startlingly original and moving ...Endearing and as utterly compelling as "The Lovely Bones"' - "Scotsman". '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".

About the Author

Born in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish writer who lives in Canada. Her fiction includes includes the bestselling Slammerkin.

Reviews

Five-year-old Jack and his Ma live and eat and play and sleep in one room-an 11x11-foot space that is their prison-captives of the terrifying man Jack calls Old Nick. But as Jack grows older and more curious, it becomes clear that the room will not be able to hold him and Ma forever. Michal Friedman shines as Jack; her narration is haunting and compelling in its every inflection and tone. The voice she creates for Jack is so convincing, listeners may even mistake her for an actual child. Her powerful performance is complemented by Robert Petcoff's sinister Old Nick, and Ellen Archer's portrayal of resourceful Ma, whose gentle voice is infused with patience, terror, and hope. The chemistry between the players creates a gem of an audiobook that will haunt listeners long after the story's end. A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, July 12). (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Five-year-old Jack lives with his mother ("Ma") in a small room ("Room"), where they've been imprisoned since her abduction by a stranger ("Old Nick") seven years earlier. Within Room, Ma creates for Jack a loving universe to help him thrive and shield him from the reality of their situation. As Jack describes the rhythm of his and Ma's days, the listener is drawn with terrible dread into that tiny space-e.g., Wardrobe, where Jack sleeps, and Skylight, their only source of natural light. Michael Friedman, voicing Jack, perfectly renders a five-year-old in expression and pace, and Ellen Archer's portrayal of Ma, too, adds depth and immediacy. Robert Petkoff sinisterly renders Old Nick, while Suzanne Toren chimes in to narrate the other characters the pair encounter along their way to a different life. Rife fodder for writing classes and book clubs, Donoghue's (www.-emmadonoghue.com) disturbing but powerful tale is especially compelling in its depiction of the extraordinary courage and love of its two central characters. Highly recommended. [A 2011 Audie Award nominee; the Alex Award-winning Little, Brown hc was a 2010 LJ Best Book and also received a starred review, LJ 8/10.-Ed.]-Barbara Valle, El Paso P.L., TX (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.