Alias Grace

Alias Grace (1996)

Alias Grace is a historical fiction novel by Margaret Atwood based on Grace Marks, a woman found guilty of murder in the 1840’s as a teenager, who then spent 29 years in prison in Ontario before being pardoned. In this novel, set when Grace had been in prison for around twenty-six years, a church community in Kingston petitioning the Canadian government for her pardon brings in a young physician, Dr Simon Jordan, who wishes to make a case study of her. The novel alternates between Grace and Simon’s points of view as it explores an intimate, vulnerable, and unflinching fictionalization of her life rooted in what we know about the historical woman. Simon struggles to maintain his professionalism as he becomes too drawn into her story, endures the provincial nature of Kingston in the 1840’s, and becomes entangled in some of his own choices. The novel is punctuated by reports concerning the historical Grace Marks, some real and fictional letters from people around them, and excerpts from Susannah Moodie’s famously embellished interviews with her. It deserves high praise for its depth of historical accuracy and it’s a compelling read. It offers compassionate and uncomfortable insights into society, especially concerning the life of women in the 1840’s, while offering no easy answers about right and wrong. It’s an excellent book.

Storytelling and narratives are at the core of Alias Grace - how stories are told, and how people receive them. Grace tells segments of her life to Simon while sewing or doing needlepoint in the house of the prison warden, where she is sometimes permitted to work as a domestic. During these sessions, Grace tells Simon about the narrative nature of quilt patterns; how each has a name, associations, and life events they should ideally accompany. The book itself is divided into sections, each named after a real quilt pattern, and the book sections feel like they align with the implications of each one. It really reinforces both the storytelling nature of this particular book and firmly embeds the book’s perspective in that of an 1840’s woman.

This storytelling focus leads smoothly into the sociological aspects of the book as Grace and Simon both find themselves navigating hedge mazes of social expectation, while the other people around them have their own complicated paths or serve as barriers in the paths of others. While the pressures of being a doctor, prisoner, public spectacle, domestic servant, or immigrant get explored, amongst other things, I found the motivations of the characters felt rooted in who they are. Those puzzle pieces fit together with nuance as parts of a greater whole, and those same elements fit differently into different people, the decisions they make, and their outlooks towards each other (and themselves).

Storytelling and sociology go rather hand in hand when it comes to another aspect of this book - the effect an audience has directly on the story they are being told. Grace talks about the media circus that surrounded her trial, but Grace is also telling Simon a story herself, and the historical Grace was recorded as giving conflicting accounts of the events of the murder. Suzannah Moodie told a story about Grace, painting a particular kind of picture, and Margaret Atwood is also telling a story about Grace, and about Simon as well. It’s masterfully done. Grace herself is, unsurprisingly, very defined by an awareness of the impact those around her have on anything she might have to say, and this book’s narrative is defined by this awareness as well.

Grace’s story, as told to Simon, begins with her life as a child in Ireland, her problematic father, and her harrowing voyage to Canada. We get to know Grace as an impoverished, immigrant child trying to take care of her irresponsible father and even younger siblings, eventually getting work as a maid where we get to know the kind of young teenager she became, before coming to work at the country house where the murders would occur at 16 years old. The Grace telling the stories, who spent 26 years in prison, reflects on how she looks back on it all now. Simon’s story, told directly to the reader, begins with him arriving in Kingston, finding less than ideal lodgings after his recent tour across Europe, and thinking about his future prospects. He finds himself in uncomfortable lodgings, pursuing his exploration of Grace Marks, but getting continuously nagged by his mother, through passive-aggressive letters, to get married and settle down already. His story follows a decidedly different path as he reflects on the rising and falling fortunes of his family, his own attractions to women, and the ramifications of his current entanglements. It’s two very different stories.

Alias Grace was insightful and engaging read, and an intimate window into a very specific time and place in Canadian history. I highly recommend it.

Perhaps it's my interest in murderers (particularly serial murderers) from a criminological perspective that made me enjoy this novel as much as I did.

Based on a real person, Atwood took the constant double-standards in the presentation of Grace Marks and weaves a tale between the facts. Providing actual quotes from relevant media prior to each part of the book, she shows the ways in which Grace was frequently treated -- not smart enough to have done it, but so incredibly clever in how she pulled it off; a delicate young flower, but grisly and cold. Everyone saw something different, everyone had the same sets of double-standards for her.

I do wish, however, that there would've been more to Jeremiah. I enjoyed that character, even though she discussed how he was immoral in his own way despite being kind. Even though I loathe real-life pseudoscience and the cons who persist in pushing it, I enjoy the kind of tricksters and hucksters portrayed in novels because they are so precisely charming and stereotypical of the sort.

"Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood is a seductive work written by one of the best contemporary authors. I first encountered Atwood through her novel "The Handmaid's Tale" and I loved its creativity, playfulness, and insightful examination of the complex position of women in society. You see these qualities in "Alias Grace," though in a very different genre: historical fiction. Both novels have much to say about our present moment and get to the heart of the idea of a women's voice (or perceived lack of voice).

The novel takes place in the 19th century and concerns Grace Marks, a woman convicted of murdering her employer and his housekeeper. Though based on a true story, this telling is speculative and based on Atwood's reading of the confessions, accounts, and evidence presented. Grace tells her story through conversations with a young psychologist looking for a case that will make his career. Yet the question that always lingers over the story is whether Grace is telling the truth and what she conceals. There are numerous moments when she tells the reader what she is thinking but does not tell the other characters. There are other times when she clearly is holding something back. We have the strange affect of someone speaking to us but not fully trusting all they say (which is a bit like the act of reading any historical document - you never are fully sure what is being left out accidentally or deliberately). All the while, as she speaks, she continues to sew, putting her story together piece-by-piece. The theme of quilts and patterns is throughout the novel and I think captures the idea of the reconstruction of memory and the way we create our identities. In spite of the other characters - the story is solidly Grace's.

Overall, the novel is an immensely entertaining and timely work. I found myself staying up late to read further along. I especially enjoyed it as a scholar of 19th century America and felt that Atwood captured the moods, tones, and attitudes of time period. I recommend the novel highly!