Alias Grace
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| Author | Margaret Atwood |
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| Cover Artist | Dante Gabriel Rossetti (first edition painting), Kong (first edition design) |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | McClelland and Stewart (first edition), Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (first U.K. edition) |
| Released | September 19, 1996 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 470 pages (first edition), 469 pages |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7710-0835-X (first edition), ISBN 0-7475-2787-3 |
Alias Grace is a novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. It was first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1996.
The novel deals with the notorious murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Upper Canada in 1843. Two servants of the Kinnear household, Grace Marks and James McDermott, were convicted of the crime. James McDermott was hanged and Grace Marks was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Although the novel is based on factual events, Atwood constructs a narrative that sees a fictional doctor, Simon Jordan, playing detective. Although ostensibly conducting research into criminal behaviour, he slowly becomes personally involved in the story of Grace Marks and seeks to reconcile the mild mannered woman he sees with the murder of which she has been convicted.
Alias Grace won the Canadian Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1996.
Some literary critics noted eerie parallels between Grace Marks and a more contemporary Canadian criminal figure, Karla Homolka. In both trials, significant controversy was raised by the question of whether they had actively participated in the murders, or were simply unwitting accessories.
Atwood also wrote an earlier work, the 1974 CBC Television film The Servant Girl, about Marks. However, in Alias Grace Atwood says that she has changed her opinion on the question of Marks' culpability.
[edit] Summary and Analysis
Chapter 1
Alias Grace begins with a recurrent dream that Grace Marks has. Grace narrates this chapter and states that it is 1851, she is twenty-four years old, and is in prison. She is a model prisoner, she claims, but it is difficult. The chapter ends with the conclusion of Grace's dream.
Chapter 2
A clip from the Toronto Mirror from November 23, 1843 and a statement from the Punishment Book from the Kingston Penitentiary start Chapter 2. The remaining text is a long poem written about Grace Marks and James McDermott. McDermott was hanged for the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery. Grace was exempted from the death penalty and was sent to prison.
Chapter 3
This chapter is where you first see Grace Marks interact with other characters. This chpter takes place in the Governer's House where Grace Marks works as a maid for the Governor and his wife. Grace narrates how the governors wife is giving little lessons on women ediquiet. At the end of this chapter a doctor dressed in black came into the room and Grace started screaming because she feared that the doctor in that room was going to pull a knife out of his bag, cut her open and examine her.
Chapter 4
After Grace Marks had her temper tantrum she was sent back to the Kingston Penetentary where she was put on a water and bread ration for a few day. Dr. Jordan came in with an apple to examine her mental status to see if Grace Marks really is mentally unstable. After multiple boring pages of them talking the chapter ends and Dr. Jordan leaves.
