The Waiting Room - An Interview With Emma Donoghue

Before Emma Donoghue’s novel Room had even hit the bookshelves it had been placed on the long list for the Man Booker Prize. By September, it was on the shortlist and, unsurprisingly, went on to become the number one bestseller in Ireland and in several other countries. It's no surprise that it was picked up by a studio and has now been adapted beautifully into an Oscar nominated movie, also called Room, starring Brie Larson. I had the pleasure of interviewing the Canadian-based Dublin native for Verbal literary magazine back in 2010 when this astonishing and heart-wrenching novel was published.

Photograph by Punch Photographic

The response to Emma Donoghue's seventh novel Room was a surprise even to the author herself. The novel, inspired by an element of the infamous Fritzl case in Austria that drew her attention, has been both praised and criticised; some saying it was exploiting a tremendously upsetting incident that happened in reality, while some – including the panel of judges for the Man Booker Shortlist – lauding the work for the interesting insight and angle it gives to such a horrifying experience. Either way, it has become the talk of book land and is hotly-tipped to win one of the most salubrious literary prizes in the world.

Book Review: The House on Willow Street by Cathy Kelly

Cathy Kelly is already a goddess among fans of women’s fiction in Ireland and further afield. For years now she has written bestseller after bestseller with a throng of fans waiting on her every release date. And, reading The House on Willow Street, you can see why. She has found just the right formula for the perfect chick lit novel with plenty of laughter and tears and characters with enough flaws for anyone to feel a familiarity with but also admire.

The story focuses on a group of women – and one man – who live or are deeply connected to Avalon, a picturesque village in Ireland, and specifically Willow Street and the big-house-gone-to-ruins Avalon House. Two of the central characters, sisters Tess and Suki, are the last descendants of a long line of De Paors who lived there and by the time they were born there was no old money left to keep it going but it remains a looming presence over the whole village.