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

Written By Unknown on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 | 6:15 AM

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.

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