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From the Publisher

One of the most notorious women of the 19th century

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Alias Grace has all the pacing of a commercial novel and all the resonance of a classic." —The Washington Post Book World

"A stunning novel full of sly wit, compassion and insight, boasting writing that is lyrical, assured, evocative of time and place, and seductive in its power to engage us." —Houston Chronicle

"Atwood provides the elements of a walloping good read: suspense, mystery, titillation, and a fully crafted but never ponderous historical milieu." —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Villain or victim, Atwood's Grace is intriguing company." —People

"A shadowy, fascinating novel." —Time

From the Publisher

"Alias Grace has all the pacing of a commercial novel and all the resonance of a classic."
--Washington Post Book World

"A stunning novel full of sly wit, compassion and insight, boasting writing that is lyrical, assured, evocative of time and place, and seductive in its power to engage us."
--Houston Chronicle

"Atwood provides the elements of a walloping good read: suspense, mystery, titillation, and a fully crafted but never ponderous historical milieu."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Villain or victim, Atwood's Grace is intriguing company."
--People

"A shadowy, fascinating novel."
--Time

From the Inside Flap

In Alias Grace, bestselling author Margaret Atwood has written her most captivating, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying work since The Handmaid's Tale. She takes us back in time and into the life of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the nineteenth century.

Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace 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 while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories? Is Grace a female fiend? A bloodthirsty femme fatale? Or is she the victim of circumstances?

From the Back Cover

In "Alias Grace, bestselling author Margaret Atwood has written her most captivating, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying work since "The Handmaid's Tale. She takes us back in time and into the life of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the nineteenth century.
Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace 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 while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories? Is Grace a female fiend? A bloodthirsty femme fatale? Or is she the victim of circumstances?

About the Author

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade.

Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

1859.

I am sitting on the purple velvet settee in the Governor's parlour, the Governor's wife's parlour; it has always been the Governor's wife's parlour although it is not always the same wife, as they change them around according to the politics. I have my hands folded in my lap the proper way although I have no gloves. The gloves I would wish to have would be smooth and white, and would be without a wrinkle.

I am often in this parlour, clearing away the tea things and dusting the small tables and the long mirror with the frame of grapes and leaves around its and the pianoforte; and the tall clock that came from Europe, with the orange-gold sun and the silver moon, that go in and out according to the time of day and the week of the month. I like the clock best of anything in the parlour, although it measures time and I have too much of that on my hands already.

But I have never sat down on the settee before, as it is for the guests. Mrs. Alderman Parkinson said a lady must never sit in a chair a gentleman has just vacated, though she would not say why; but Mary Whitney said, Because, you silly goose, it's still warm from his bum; which was a coarse thing to say. So I cannot sit here without thinking of the ladylike bums that have sat on this very settee, all delicate and white, like wobbly softboiled eggs.

The visitors wear afternoon dresses with rows of buttons up their fronts, and stiff wire crinolines beneath. It's a wonder they can sit down at all, and when they walk, nothing touches their legs under the billowing skirts, except their shifts and stockings. They are like swans, drifting along on unseen feet; or else like the jellyfish in the waters of the rocky harbour near our house, when I was little, before I ever made the long sad journey across the ocean. They were bell-shaped and ruffled, gracefully waving and lovely under the sea; but if they washed up on the beach and dried out in the sun there was nothing left of them. And that is what the ladies are like: mostly water.

There were no wire crinolines when I was first brought here. They were horsehair then, as the wire ones were not thought of. I have looked at them hanging in the wardrobes, when I go in to tidy and empty the slops. They are like birdcages; but what is being caged in? Legs, the legs of ladies; legs penned in so they cannot get out and go rubbing up against the gentlemen's trousers. The Governor's wife never says legs, although the newspapers said legs when they were talking about Nancy, with her dead legs sticking out from under the washtub.

It isn't only the jellyfish ladies that come. On Tuesdays we have the Woman Question, and the emancipation of this or that, with reform-minded persons of both sexes; and on Thursdays the Spiritualist Circle, for tea and conversing with the dead, which is a comfort to the Governor's wife because of her departed infant son. But mainly it is the ladies. They sit sipping from the thin cups, and the Governor's wife rings a little china bell. She does not like being the Governor's wife, she would prefer the Governor to be the governor of something other than a prison. The Governor had good enough friends to get him made the Governor, but not for anything else.

So here she is, and she must make the most of her social position and accomplishments, and although an object of fear, like a spider, and of charity as well, I am also one of the accomplishments. I come into the room and curtsy and move about, mouth straight, head bent, and I pick up the cups or set them down, depending; and they stare without appearing to, out from under their bonnets.

The reason they want to see me is that I am a celebrated murderess. Or that is what has been written down. When I first saw it I was surprised because they say Celebrated Singer and Celebrated Poetess and Celebrated Spiritualist and Celebrated Actress, but what is there to celebrate about murder? 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.

Murderer is merely brutal. It's like a hammer, or a lump of metal. I would rather be a murderess than a murderer, if those are the only choices.

Sometimes when I am dusting the mirror with the grapes I look at myself in it, although I know it is vanity. In the afternoon light of the parlour my skin is a pale mauve, like a faded bruise, and my teeth are greenish. I think of all the things that have been written about me—that I am an inhuman female demon, that I am an innocent victim of a blackguard forced against my will and in danger of my own life, that I was too ignorant to know how to act and that to hang me would be judicial murder, that I am fond of animals, that I am very handsome with a brilliant complexion, that I have blue eyes, that I have green eyes, that I have auburn and also brown hair, that I am tall and also not above the average height, that I am well and decently dressed, that I robbed a dead woman to appear so, that I am brisk and smart about my work, that I am of a sullen disposition with a quarrelsome temper, that I have the appearance of a person rather above my humble station, that I am a good girl with a pliable nature and no harm is told of me, that I am cunning and devious, that I am soft in the head and little better than an idiot. And I wonder, how can I be all of these different things at once?

It was my own lawyer, Mr. Kenneth MacKenzie, Esq., who told them I was next door to an idiot. I was angry with him over that, but he said it was by far my best chance and I should not appear to be too intelligent. He said he would plead my case to the utmost of his ability, because whatever the truth of the matter I was little more than a child at the time, and he supposed it came down to free will and whether or not one held with it. He was a kind gentleman although I could not make head nor tail of much of what he said, but it must have been good pleading. The newspapers wrote that he performed heroically against overwhelming odds. Though I don't know why they called it pleading, as he was not pleading but trying to make all of the witnesses appear immoral or malicious, or else mistaken.

I wonder if he ever believed a word I said.

When I have gone out of the room with the tray, the ladies look at the Governor's wife's scrapbook. Oh imagine, I feel quite faint, they say, and You let that woman walk around loose in your house, you must have nerves of iron, my own would never stand it. Oh well one must get used to such things in our situation, we are virtually prisoners ourselves you know, although one must feel pity for these poor benighted creatures, and after all she was trained as a servant, and it's as well to keep them employed, she is a wonderful seamstress, quite deft and accomplished, she is a great help in that way especially with the girls' frocks, she has an eye for trimmings, and under happier circumstances she could have made an excellent milliner's assistant.

Although naturally she can be here only during the day, I would not have her in the house at night. You are aware that she has spent time in the Lunatic Asylum in Toronto, seven or eight years ago it was, and although she appears to be perfectly recovered you never know when they may get carried away again, sometimes she talks to herself and sings out loud in a most peculiar manner. One cannot take chances, the keepers conduct her back in the evenings and lock her up properly, otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink. Oh I don't blame you, there is only so far one can go in Christian charity, a leopard cannot change its spots and no one could say you have not done your duty and shown a proper feeling.

The Governor's wife's scrapbook is kept on the round table with the silk shawl covering it, branches like vines intertwined, with flowers and red fruit and blue birds, it is really one large tree and if you stare at it long enough the vines begin to twist as if a wind is blowing them. It was sent from India by her eldest daughter who is married to a missionary, which is not a thing I would care to do myself. You would be sure to die early, if not from the rioting natives as at Cawnpore with horrid outrages committed on the persons of respectable gentlewomen, and a mercy they were all slaughtered and put out of their misery, for only think of the shame; then from the malaria, which turns you entirely yellow, and you expire in raving fits; in any case before you could turn around, there you would be, buried under a palm tree in a foreign clime. I have seen pictures of them in the book of Eastern engravings the Governor's wife takes out when she wishes to shed a tear.

On the same round table is the stack of Godey's Ladies' Books with the fashions that come up from the States, and also the Keepsake Albums of the two younger daughters. Miss Lydia tells me I am a romantic figure; but then the two of them are so young they hardly know what they are saying. Sometimes they pry and tease; they say, Grace, why don't you ever smile or laugh, we never see you smiling, and I say I suppose Miss I have gotten out of the way of it. My face won't bend in that direction any more. But if I laughed out loud I might not be able to stop; and also it would spoil their romantic notion of me. Romantic people are not supposed to laugh, I know that much from looking at the pictures.

The daughters put all kinds of things into their albums, little scraps of cloth from their dresses, little snippets of ribbon, pictures cut from magazines—the Ruins of Ancient Rome, the Picturesque Monasteries of the French Alps, Old London Bridge, Niagara Falls in summer and in winter, which is a thing I would like to see as all say it is very impressive, and portraits of Lady This and Lord That from England. And their friends write things in their graceful handwriting, To Dearest Lydia from your Eternal Friend, Clara Richards; To Dearest Marianne In Memory of Our Splendid Picnic on the Shores of Bluest Lake Ontario. And also poems:

As round about the sturdy Oak
Entwines the loving Ivy Vine,
My Faith so true, I pledge to You,
'Twill evermore be none but Thine, Your Faithful Laura.

Or else:

Although from you I far must roam,
Do not be broken hearted,
We two who in the Soul are One
Are never truly parted. Your Lucy.

This young lady was shortly afterwards drowned in the Lake when her ship went down in a gale, and nothing was ever found but her box with her initials done in silver nails; it was still locked, so although damp, nothing spilt out, and Miss Lydia was given a scarf out of it as a keepsake.

When I am dead and in my grave
And all my bones are rotten,
When this you see, remember me,
Lest I should be forgotten.

That one is signed, I will always be with you in Spirit, Your loving 'Nancy', Hannah Edmonds, and I must say the first time I saw that, it gave me a fright, although of course it was a different Nancy. Still, the rotten bones. They would be, by now. Her face was all black by the time they found her, there must have been a dreadful smell. It was so hot then, it was July, still she went off surprisingly soon, you'd think she would have kept longer in the dairy, it is usually cool down there. I am certainly glad I was not present, as it would have been very distressing.

I don't know why they are all so eager to be remembered. What good will it do them? There are some things that should be forgotten by everyone, and never spoken of again.

The Governor's wife's scrapbook is quite different. Of course she is a grown woman and not a young girl, so although she is just as fond of remembering, what she wants to remember is not violets or a picnic. No Dearest and Love and Beauty, no Eternal Friends, none of those things for her; what it has instead is all the famous criminals in it—the ones that have been hanged, or else brought here to be penitent, because this is a Penitentiary and you are supposed to repent while in it, and you will do better if you say you have done so, whether you have anything to repent of or not.

The Governor's wife cuts these crimes out of the newspapers and pastes them in; she will even write away for old newspapers with crimes that were done before her time. It is her collection, she is a lady and they are all collecting things these days, and so she must collect something, and she does this instead of pulling up ferns or pressing flowers, and in any case she likes to horrify her acquaintances.

So I have read what they put in about me. She showed the scrapbook to me herself, I suppose she wanted to see what I would do; but I've learnt how to keep my face still, I made my eyes wide and flat, like an owl's in torchlight, and I said I had repented in bitter tears, and was now a changed person, and would she wish me to remove the tea things now; but I've looked in there since, many times, when I've been in the parlour by myself.

A lot of it is lies. They said in the newspaper that I was illiterate, but I could read some even then. I was taught early by my mother, before she got too tired for it, and I did my sampler with leftover thread, A is for Apple, B is for Bee; and also Mary Whitney used to read with me, at Mrs. Alderman Parkinson's, when we were doing the mending; and I've learnt a lot more since being here, as they teach you on purpose. They want you to be able to read the Bible, and also tracts, as religion and thrashing are the only remedies for a depraved nature and our immortal souls must be considered. It is shocking how many crimes the Bible contains. The Governor's wife should cut them all out and paste them into her scrapbook.

They did say some true things. They said I had a good character; and that was so, because nobody had ever taken advantage of me, although they tried. But they called James McDermott my paramour. They wrote it down, right in the newspaper. I think it is disgusting to write such things down.

That is what really interests them—the gentlemen and the ladies both. They don't care if I killed anyone, I could have cut dozens of throats, it's only what they admire in a soldier, they'd scarcely blink. No: was I really a paramour, is their chief concern, and they don't even know themselves whether they want the answer to be no or yes.

I'm not looking at the scrapbook now, because they may come in at any moment. I sit with my rough hands folded, eyes down, staring at the flowers in the Turkey carpet. Or they are supposed to be flowers. They have petals the shape of the diamonds on a playing card; like the cards spread out on the table at Mr. Kinnear's, after the gentlemen had been playing the night before. Hard and angular. But red, a deep thick red. Thick strangled tongues.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 13, 1997
Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 468 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385490445
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385490443
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.18 x 0.98 x 8.01 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #25,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #255 in Science Fiction Crime & Mystery
- #1,283 in Suspense Thrillers
- #2,059 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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(11,781)

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Margaret Atwood
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Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, went back into the bestseller charts with the election of Donald Trump, when the Handmaids became a symbol of resistance against the disempowerment of women, and with the 2017 release of the award-winning Channel 4 TV series. ‘Her sequel, The Testaments, was published in 2019. It was an instant international bestseller and won the Booker Prize.’
Atwood has won numerous awards including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.
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José Antonio Alías García
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José Antonio Alías comenzó su andadura como compositor y más tarde se realizó como escritor bajo el mismo nombre artístico y pseudónimo, respectivamente, de Ares Van Jaag. Posteriormente ejercería como editor independiente.
Entre sus obras literarias destacan "Manual del Jugador Profesional" - Editorial Trafford Publishing (2008), "El Motor de Agua" - Editorial Vivelibro (2013) o "Moncheta Gonzalo de la Birria Caateta" - Editorial Alvi Books (2016).
Fue director de Editorial Planeta-Alvi hasta la modificación de su denominación social en 2018.
En la actualidad ejerce como editor y director de la editorial londinense Alvi Books, Ltd.
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Customer reviews

11,781 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this novel an enjoyable read with a captivating story based on historical events, and they appreciate the writing style and character development. The book keeps readers engaged throughout, though some find it slow-paced. The historical content receives positive feedback, with one customer highlighting its evocation of 19th century life, while opinions about the level of detail are mixed, with some praising it while others find it overly descriptive.

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165 customers mention readability, 150 positive, 15 negative

Customers find the book to be a wonderful and mesmerizing read that does not disappoint, with many considering it one of Atwood's best works.

Great read - draws you in. (Fourteen more words are not, in my opinion, required, regardless of how many times the instruction appears.)Read more

This was a good read - I always enjoy Atwood's novels, but this one (based on true events) was especially pleasing to me - largely because it...Read more

It was such a great book and it was so rewarding to see the Netflix adaption after reading!Read more

Wonderful book! I must read some more of Margaret Atwood books!! I also saw the series on Netflix..!Read more

139 customers mention story quality, 116 positive, 23 negative

Customers find the book's story compelling and captivating, based on historical events, with one customer particularly appreciating the first-person narrative approach.

...Alias Grace lies not within the plot, which is mysterious and based on a true story, nor within the voices of the characters, but within the...Read more

...I will definitely be reading more of her books. This was a great story where you delve into the mind of a murderess to determine whether she is...Read more

The setting is a little grim, but it is an interesting story and beautifully written....Read more

A wonderful book about a true story with so much left to discover. We will never know the whole story.Read more

92 customers mention interest, 76 positive, 16 negative

Customers find the book thoroughly engaging and wonderfully suspenseful, keeping their attention throughout.

Though the subject of Alias Grace is historically based and interesting, I found the writing to be especially slow and it was hard to keep my mind...Read more

...Alias Grace is a dark, intriguing, and haunting mystery which stays with us after the last page and for that I must give it 4 stars....Read more

...It had its slow moments, but overall very interesting, especially considering it is based on a true story. The end was a little open ended, though.Read more

Well written and engaging. Interesting story based on historical events. It kept me guessing, which was refreshing.Read more

90 customers mention writing style, 84 positive, 6 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, noting its Faulkner-like prose and how it maintains interest throughout.

This book is so well written by Margaret Atwood. It is an intense story that challenges your mind and hard to put down.Read more

...It was an intricate book, beautifully written, and my only regret is I haven't coerced my friends to read it yet so I can talk with them about it.Read more

...It's definitely different from other books by Margaret Atwood, but well-written all the same.Read more

I love books of fiction woven from historical facts. This one was so well written I felt like I was there at the time....Read more

42 customers mention character development, 38 positive, 4 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, particularly noting the vivid descriptions of characters and scenery, with one customer specifically praising Grace's portrayal.

Strange story. Loved the character development and enjoy books based on history. Would recommend.Read more

Rich in detail and captivating, I couldn't put it down. Great character development that kept me turning the page. Highly Recommend.Read more

...the characters are very well described and it's easy to feel like you know them. I would highly recommend this book. In fact, I already have.Read more

...The characters are interesting and at the same time irritating. Perfect for just before bedtime, and be prepared to spend some time.Read more

33 customers mention historical content, 33 positive, 0 negative

Customers appreciate the historical content of the book, with several noting its interesting aspects and love for historical fiction. One customer mentions it is based on historical documentation and news articles, while another describes it as an interesting imagining of a period in Canadian history.

...Interesting that it was based on true events. Grace I felt was the only wee developed character.Read more

A nice mix of mystery,history and based on a true story. Grace tells her story through her conversations with the psychologist .Read more

Strange story. Loved the character development and enjoy books based on history. Would recommend.Read more

Historical fiction at it's best.Read more

57 customers mention pacing, 21 positive, 36 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some finding it poignant while others describe it as slow and slow-moving.

...Unfortunately, I found this book to be lacking. It was very slow and seemed to simply fill its pages with superfluous details and information that...Read more

I loved it! I liked that it was not predictable...a fun read.Read more

...historical fiction novel,, but found this to be a bit plodding and a slow read. The characters are interesting and at the same time irritating....Read more

...This book was SLOW. It took me over a month to read which never happens. I love Atwood but this book needed some action interjected....Read more

24 customers mention detail, 13 positive, 11 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's detail, with some finding it rich and descriptive, while others feel it includes too much fill-in information and can be overly detailed at times.

...But, Ms. Atwood pulled me into Grace's story with her vivid descriptions and the strangely flat affect of the main character....Read more

This was an interesting book, historically speaking. However, too descriptive, which made for tedious reading in general....Read more

...I found it psychologically very credible and beautifully described....Read more

...Nothing. This book leaves you hanging. Very slow, and way too much detail.Read more

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OreoandLucy
Even Better Than a Handmaid's Tale
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Having really enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, I was very excited to read Alias Grace and to see that it is a new series on Netflix. I really enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale but I have to say that I actually liked Alias Grace more. It might have been because it was based on a true story but the story was fascinating to me.

Grace Marks is a prisoner, having been found guilty of the grisly murder of her employer and his housekeeper. She is said to have committed the murders of Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear with her coworker, James McDermott, who is a surly and jealous man. While she was initially sentenced to hang like McDermott, she is saved by her lawyer, who pleads with the court to consider her youth, and her sentence is commuted to a life term. Soon after she is imprisoned, she is committed to an asylum on account of fits and her amnesia surrounding anything to do with the crime. While she is treated with the worst of the time's psychiatric treatments, she still does not remember anything about the time when Montgomery and Kinnear are murdered. Years later, a young psychiatrist is brought in by a group trying to prove her innocence to try to help her remember more about the crime.

My favorite part of this book would have to be the characters that Atwood has created, Nancy being one of my favorites. She is the perfect narcissist. She is jealous, manipulative and overly sensitive. One never knows where they stand with her as she can love you or hate you from day to day and minute to minute. Grace, herself, is actually quite likeable. She comes off as very intelligent in a very street smart way. I also think that she could be a very relatable character for many of us in that she is but a product of her past. While I didn't feel that Dr. Jordan's story added very much to the overall feel of the book, Grace's story was sad but very interesting. I was left wanting to know more. The writing style is sophisticated but still very easily readable. I really enjoyed this book and I believe that anyone who enjoys historical fiction, true crime or medical mysteries will enjoy this book, too.

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Book Mama
Interesting story
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2019
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It's supposed to be based on a true story, with parts embellished by the author. I would rather it have just been fiction. It felt true to the time. I didn't like what happened to the doctor. He abruptly disappeared from the story and even with an explanation, it felt odd. One minute he was an integral part of the story, the next, he was gone. The ending was also a bit contrived. But it was an interesting and engaging story and worth reading.

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Judith K. Hecker
A wonderful book for our times
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
this is not a new book, but it - like some others of Margaret Atwood's books - gets sadly more relevant as time goes by. The story is based on a 19th century double murder case in Canada, and fills out gaps in the known facts. The story is told by alternating persons: the woman accused of the murders, the American physician who attempts to gain her trust and bring back her memory of events during the days leading to the murders. I found it psychologically very credible and beautifully described. Nowadays this would be called a case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, but at the time of the events described, psychiatry and psychology as we know them today were just beginning to emerge in France, and much was unknown in areas of neuropsychology, diagnosis and treatment. The book is also about the experiences of Irish immigrants in Canada, of kindness and cruelty and class in the new world. Finally, it is a poignant commentary about the status of women in a patriarchal society, written with uncommon depth of feeling for the heroine. A classic in my opinion.
.

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Carla Wingfield
Slow Read
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2025
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Though the subject of Alias Grace is historically based and interesting, I found the writing to be especially slow and it was hard to keep my mind engaged.

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Debbie Wilson
Excellent!
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2014
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Another wonderful read from Margaret Atwood. I went into this book blind, not knowing this is Atwood's re-creation of an actual event that took place in the mid 1800's. The amount of research and location of records must have been extremely difficult. I think knowing this from the outset would have made a difference in my experience of this book. While it keep me fully engaged throughout, I found it a little slow and overly descriptive at times. Becoming aware that this was an actual event, I find it to be a masterpiece in it's ability to revive the past.

This is the story of Grace, who uses an alias name after she is accused of a horrible murder. The insights into how women were regarded in this time period are always highly disturbing. Her every move is defined in relation to what males think. Atwood did an amazing job leading me through the murders and evidence against Grace. It is a sad state of affairs when men have all the power and their accusations always prevail. It left me wondering just how far Grace had to go to protect herself.

Atwood, in the end, leaves us to decide for ourselves what really took place. She also shows how limited any real choice was for a woman in that time period. In fact, I would say they were non-existent, leaving me to not only take a hard look at how long women have struggled to obtain them, but also at how these choices are slowly being stripped away in current times.

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生田　雅一
不思議な小説
Reviewed in Japan on November 18, 2012
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

１５歳のGrace Marksが関わっていたとされる殺人事件を題材にした小説である。精神科医のSimon Jordanとの接見の過程で事件の一部が描かれていくが、最後まで呼んでも真実は謎のヴェイルに包まれたままだ。冒頭に置かれている事件当時に作られた詩が何かを暗示しているのかもしれない。

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mimi67
Loved it !
Reviewed in France on August 18, 2025
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Magnifiquement bien écrit !

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Stitcher69
A very worthwhile read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2025
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Amazing . It is based on a true story. I was really gripped by the story all the way through. I can't say too much without revealing the plot and creating a spoiler. I will just say that I found it a very worthwhile read.

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Nana Mez
Discovered a great book
Reviewed in Australia on February 19, 2020
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I have always shied away from Margaret Atwood's book as I felt they were a bit strange. Had to read Alias Grace for my book group and absolutely loved it. I am now a fan of hers and will be reading more of her books.

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ListenWithoutPrejudice
Very well written
Reviewed in Germany on August 30, 2024
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed reading Alias Grace. Very few writers can match Margaret Atwood's talent and skill. Her writing is precise, deliberate and controlled, and more than anything, it is underpinned by emotional intelligence and depth of thought. A good, solid novel. I recommend it.

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Alias Grace: A Novel Paperback – Illustrated, October 13, 1997

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars Even Better Than a Handmaid's Tale

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting story

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book for our times

3.0 out of 5 stars Slow Read

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars 不思議な小説

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it !

5.0 out of 5 stars A very worthwhile read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovered a great book

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written

Even Better Than a Handmaid's Tale

Interesting story

A wonderful book for our times

Slow Read

Excellent!

不思議な小説

Loved it !

A very worthwhile read.

Discovered a great book

Very well written