When I heard that Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel “Room” was being made into a feature film, I had my reservations. The book, for those who missed it during its many weeks atop the bestseller list, is about a a mother and her five-year-old son (“Ma” and Jack), who live inside “Room.” For Ma, Room is a prison; seven years ago, as a teenager, she was kidnapped and imprisoned in her captor’s backyard shed, giving birth to Jack after her captor raped her. But to Jack, “Room” is home; in order to shield him from the painful reality of their situation, Ma has made him think that theirs is the entire universe, with no knowledge that a world exists beyond they have created inside these four walls.

Salon spoke to “Room” author Emma Donoghue about the new film adaptation screening at TIFF