The Mars Room follows Romy Hall, a single mother serving two life sentences in a California women’s prison after killing her stalker. As Romy reflects on her troubled past—including her time working at a San Francisco strip club—she struggles with isolation, grief over her mother’s death, and desperation to reconnect with her son, Jackson. Inside prison, she forms bonds with other inmates, clashes with guards, and draws the attention of a prison teacher, Gordon Hauser. As Romy contemplates escape, the novel explores themes of injustice, survival, and the dehumanizing effects of the prison system. The book was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize and won the Prix Médicis Étranger.