Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Emma Donoghue was inspired to write Room by the case of Josef Fritzl, a man who locked his own daughter in his basement for twenty-four years. She had seven of his children while locked away. This is, of course, a story you can read all about on TruTV, the best place for your creepy true-crime fix (Source).
Some people think Room is also a book about Jaycee Dugard. Some people are flat-out wrong. Dugard was kidnapped in 1991, held captive for 18 years, and found in 2009. She hadn't been discovered when Donoghue was writing Room. She did write her own memoir, so you can look it up if you're interested in hearing her tale (Source).
Room is Emma Donoghue's ninth novel. She's mostly written historical fiction, about prostitutes, private-school students, con artists, and Ireland—though we suppose that with all the captive women in the news, Room is kind of historical fiction, too (Source).