Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 1996 Giller Pizer Winner

Margaret Atwood is one of Canada's best known writers. Her novels range from speculative fiction to historical fiction to contemporary fiction. The one thing they have in common is the beauty of the writing. Perhaps because she is also a poet, her prose contains beautiful language and has a wonderful sense of rhythm and flow. 

Alias Grace is a historical novel. It is based on an actual murder that took place in Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1843. Thomas Kinnear and his pregnant housekeeper and mistress, Nancy Montgomery, were murdered and found in the basement of his farmhouse. His other servants Grace Marks and James McDermott were tried and convicted for the crime. McDermott was hanged. Grace Marks was also sentenced to be hanged, but at the last minute was given a life sentence instead (partly based on the fact that she was only 16 years old). After spending thirty years in prison, Grace was pardoned and never heard of again. It was believed that she had gone to New York State. 

Atwood takes those bare facts and weaves a story using some contemporary sources such as letters and newspaper articles, and her imagining of what could have happened. She has Grace tell the story in her own words to a young doctor from the United States, Simon Jordan, who is hoping to gain recognition so that he can open his own private asylum and work with the insane and mentally ill. A group of reformers hired him to write a report that they hope to use in their efforts to have Grace pardoned. Grace spent some time in an asylum and many believe her to be insane.

Grace herself is an enigma. Grace's story and her relationship with Dr Jordan are at the heart of the novel. Grace and Dr Jordan narrate most of the story. Grace claims that she has no memory of the murders and doesn't know if she participated in them or not. As she tells her story we never know what is really true. Dr Jordan thinks that he can help her regain her memory, if she truly can not remember what happened. He is an interesting and flawed character. This change of narration also adds to the feeling of not knowing what is true.

Grace had only one good friend during her time in Toronto, Mary Whitney. But she came to a sad end and Grace conjures up her presence for help and guidance when she is troubled. She chooses Mary's name as her alias when she and McDermott run away to the US following the murders.  Mary is a very interesting character and provides a foil to Grace. Her character allows Atwood to bring other ideas such as democracy and equality into the story. All of the characters are very human, and rooted in their time with its social mores and scientific beliefs. 

The title of each section of the book is the name of a quilt pattern, with the pattern shown as an illustration. This follows through in the story with Grace often talking about quilts and quilt patterns; especially the one she would have made for her marriage quilt. Grace presents her view of why women make quilts and lay them on the tops of beds: 

"And then I have thought, it's for a warning. Because you may think a bed is a peaceful thing, Sir, and to you it may mean rest and comfort and a good night's sleep. But it isn't so for everyone; and there are many dangerous things that may take place in a bed. It is where we are born, and this is our first peril in life; and it is where the women give birth, which is often their last. And it is where the act takes place between men and women that I will not mention to you, Sir, but I suppose you know what it is; and some call it love, and others despair, or merely an indignity which they must suffer through. And finally beds are what we sleep in, and where we dream, and often where we die."

This book provides a view of life in Upper Canada in  the mid-19th century. Grace and her family emigrated to Upper Canada from Ireland, so the book also shows what life was like for those crossing the ocean to what they hoped would be a better life. Grace's early life in Canada is in Toronto and the crime itself took place in Richmond Hill outside Toronto. Grace is incarcerated in Kingston Penitentiary so much of the story takes place in Kingston. I enjoyed the physical descriptions of these towns and the descriptions of every day life and society at the time.

As with much of Atwood's writing, the ideas presented in this book resonate with current events. Today in Canada the government is planning changes to the laws regarding those who are determined to be not criminally responsible for a crime due to mental illness. These changes will make it more difficult for these people to be released following treatment. It is interesting to consider how much or how little we have progressed in our treatment of the mentally ill.

Here are some sections that I really liked:
-  (Read this out loud to get the full effect) "All the same, Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you. It has a smell to it, that word - musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase. Sometimes at night I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor.
- "I sit down on the straw mattress. It makes a sound like shushing. Like water on the shore. I shift from side to side, to listen to it. I could close my eyes and think I'm by the sea, on a dry day without much wind."
- "Gone mad is what they say, and sometimes Run mad, as if mad is a direction, like west; as if mad is a different house you could step into, or a separate country entirely. But when you go mad you don't go to any other place, you stay where you are. And somebody else comes in."
- "At the Governor's residence, Simon is directed to the parlour......All possible surfaces of it are upholstered; the colours are those of the inside of the body - the maroon of kidneys, the reddish purple of hearts, the opaque blue of veins, the ivory of teeth and bones."

I read this book in 1996 when it was first published. At that time I only kept a record of the title and author of the books I read. I didn't leave any notes about whether I liked a book or not. I do remember that I did like Alias Grace. This time around I again enjoyed this book very much. I liked the way it kept me wondering about Grace. I liked the picture it painted of time and place. And I loved the language and writing.Towards the end of the book Dr Jordan's story is told through a series of letters. I thought this was a good way to complete his story. I have made my own decision regarding Grace's guilt or innocence. If you choose to read this book, you can make yours. Have you read this book? What do you think?

NEXT: 1997 Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler