ALIAS GRACE is a work of historical fiction based on the true story of Grace Marks who was a servant girl accused of murder and was one of Canada's most notorious female criminals. She was "involved in the 1843 murder of her Richmond Hill, Ontario, employer Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery. Her conviction for the murder of Kinnear was controversial and sparked much debate about whether Marks was actually instrumental in the murder or merely an unwitting accessory." Atwood provides a very vivid account of Grace and her life which is told mainly in Grace's own words from her childhood in Ireland through life as a servant in colonial Victorian Canada and then to the murder of her employer at the age of sixteen. Most of the story is told by Grace through Dr. Simon Jordan, a mental illness specialist who is hired by a group of reformers and spiritualists that are seeking a pardon for Grace. Dr. Jordan becomes enamored with Grace and eventually learns the relationship between her and her employer, his housekeeper, Nancy, and the servant James McDermott who was hanged for the murders. But who is telling the truth? Was Grace an accomplice in the murders? Did she have a hand in planning them? Or was she merely a young girl who went along with McDermott's plan out of fear for her own life?
Atwood uses themes of social and feminist comment in the novel and explores the relationships between sex and violence in a repressed society. She also reflects on the time-period's ambiguity about the nature of women and whether Grace must have been forced into an act of violence or was she inherently evil. This is the first novel by Atwood that I have read and I thought it was very well-written and fast-paced and I would highly recommend it. I'm sure I will be reading more of her works including THE HANDMAID'S TALE that I have on my TBR stacks.
Atwood uses themes of social and feminist comment in the novel and explores the relationships between sex and violence in a repressed society. She also reflects on the time-period's ambiguity about the nature of women and whether Grace must have been forced into an act of violence or was she inherently evil. This is the first novel by Atwood that I have read and I thought it was very well-written and fast-paced and I would highly recommend it. I'm sure I will be reading more of her works including THE HANDMAID'S TALE that I have on my TBR stacks.
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