Room

On the face of it this book is as dark as they come. A young woman is held hostage in a sound proof bunker. Repeatedly raped over a number of years by her captor, she gives birth to a son and it’s from the child’s perspective that the story is narrated.

Jack is five at the beginning of the novel. The kidnapper still visits his mother each night and, hiding in a wardrobe, he listens as she is abused. But one day ‘Ma’ has a manically-inspired idea for escape.

In the second half of the book Donoghue sets about the task of describing the world outside from Jack's viewpoint. We feel as small as he does. His vulnerability is so brilliantly evoked that it's hard to put the book down during these passages.

It requires a leap of faith for a five-year-old to be capable of telling a story in a way as coherent as this and when it comes to language Jack is a precocious child. But he is also immensely loveable and I was touched by lots about him, particularly his desire to meet and play with other children like himself.

But this isn't just a misery memoir, there's real moral ambiguity here too. The attempt at escape makes us doubt Ma's responsibility as a parent (though it becomes clear she is beginning to lose the plot), then her decision to raise her son in their mutual captivity is called into question - it's a chilling moment of realisation - should Ma have given up her child so he could have a normal life? It’s a hard question to answer and one that will stay in your head for some time after you close the book.