Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, the wealthy Thomas Kinnear, and of Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence after a stint in Toronto's lunatic asylum, Grace herself claims to have no memory of the murders.
Dr. Simon Jordan, an up and coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness, is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story, from her families difficult passage out of Ireland into Canada, to her time as a maid in Thomas Kinnear's household.
Again just fantastic writing from Atwood. The description of the trip by boat from Ireland to Canada is especially moving, you get lost in the writing.
Life in the early 1800's was hard, it was especially hard if you were female, it was especially especially hard if you were a female child having to fend for yourself with a drunken father and younger siblings.
As the jacket blurb states the doctor takes Grace along her life line until she is brought to the day the murders take place when there is a revelation .There is much historical detail along the way concentrating on describing the lot of the poor. e.g Grace never had a bath until she was 13 years old.
The one part of the novel I didn't understand was a diversion where Dr. Jordan has an affair, I didn't see any need for this but I may have missed something.
The ending is a bit Dickensian as things "fall into place" but that's a nothing, I'm a huge Atwood fan and love anything she writes.
I see this has been made into a television series I hope it does the novel justice but doubt it because no TV can replicate the writing of someone who if there is justice will get the Nobel for Literature shortly.
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