Emma Donoghue: I write historical stories because they still feel alive to me

Her novel Room was nominated for a Booker Prize. Now the Dublin-born and Canadian-based writer is back with a brand new book.

Author Emma Donoghue is best known for her novels ‘Room’ and ‘The Wonder’. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Author Emma Donoghue is up early. It’s a crisp autumn day in Canada, a lovely mix of sunny and cold and she’s just back from bringing her teenager get her driver’s licence.

“I’m terrified at the prospect of my 16-year-old driving,” she admits, “but that’s just one of those irrational maternal emotions best kept for my fiction”.