Kidnapped Woman Is Kept in Backyard Dungeon, Has Monster’s Baby
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A 19-year-old college student is abducted by an ogre and held captive for seven years in a secure 11-foot-square chamber: Emma Donoghue’s “Room” has the makings of an unbearably tense thriller. The surprise is how much more than that it is -- gripping but also affecting and, believe it or not, sweet.
Donoghue’s inspiration is the terrible case of Elisabeth Fritzl, the Austrian woman who finally escaped from her dungeon in 2008 after being imprisoned by her father for 24 years and bearing him seven children. (According to recent reports, she’s doing well.)