Louise O'Neill: 'Readers tell me my book showed them that being raped wasn't their fault'

The author of Asking for It explains how she drew on many people’s experience of sexual violence for her novel, including her own

Writing Asking for It was a fraught process. The day before I sat down at my desk to begin working on it, I decided that I had to tell my parents and my sister about my own experience of sexual assault – because I knew the subject was likely to come up in interviews once the book was published. My mother was sobbing; my sister remained silent, her face a mask of horror; my father hugged me and told me that he loved me. I went to bed that night and had nightmares about being raped by a faceless man, my mouth sewn shut so I couldn’t scream for help. I woke at 4am, gasping, my face damp with tears.

That was only the beginning.

Continue reading...