Summary
Margaret Atwood writes about a notorious Canadian murder case of the 1840s in this historical novel. She takes the facts of the Grace Marks case and uses them to delve into the psyche of the convicted murderer and the social milieu that she lived in. The stations of women, immigrants, and the poor are examined in detail through the psychological investigations of a physician trying to get at the truth in Grace's mind. A nominee for the 1996 Booker Prize, and listed as one of Salon's Best Books of 1997.
Customer Reviews
Review this book!
Media Reviews
"A proto-psychologist seeks out the imprisoned Grace hoping to excavate her secrets and establish, once and for all, her guilt or innocence, but Atwood herself is just as interested in the texture of daily life in the 19th century; this is a book about blood and laundry. Her tremendous intelligence-never contaminated by an iota of sentimentality or cant-and poet's eye...make ALIAS GRACE an acerbic delight..."
-- Salon
"ALIAS GRACE has the physical heft and weighty authority of a 19th-century novel. In its scope, its moral seriousness, its paradoxically ponderous and engrossing narrative, the book evokes the high Victorian mode, spiced with the spooky plot twists and playfully devious teases of the equally high Gothic....Some readers may feel that the novel only intermittently succeeds in transcending the burden of history, research and abstraction....Others will admire the liveliness with which Ms. Atwood toys with both our expectations and the conventions of the Victorian thriller. Such fans will be delighted by the plot's many riddles, its edifying Victoriana, the enigmas that continue to perplex us even after we've finished this latest installment in the mystery of a pretty young woman who was either the loathsome perpetrator or another innocent victim of an infamous crime." -- Francine Prose
-- New York Times Book Review
"It is a most realistic book, and a savagely anti-realistic one at the same time, therefore-since it implies that while we savor the textures and smells and colours of the age of realism we're behaving rather like those ladies and gentlemen (especially gentlemen) who were so fascinated with the servant classes. Falling for history, in other words, has its perverse aspect...." -- Lorna Sage
-- Times Literary Supplement
"The book's strengths lie in its minutely observed portrayal of the particulars of 19th-century daily life, from Grace's work as a domestic to Dr. Jordan's problems with his landlady. Whether or not this novel is a convincing account of the 'real' Grace Marks, it is a convincing piece of fiction, nicely structured and well-written." -- Merle Rubin
-- Wall Street Journal
"This brilliant fiction rests on ascertainable fact....[Atwood] recreates, to stunning effect, the story of Grace Marks's life without in any way prejudicing opinion in one direction or another....In quiet, undemanding, but horrifyingly evenhanded prose Margaret Atwood allows the reader every possible nuance of conviction and doubt....[She] is to be congratulated not only for painting on so broad a canvas, but for the cunning of her intentions and the unadorned manner in which she both conceals and reveals them....Not only a riveting story: a genuine accomplishment." -- Anita Brookner
-- Spectator
"This is a story of murder and memory, a chilling horror story, almost a story of possession; it is also a novel of ideas, where intellect and passion are finely hand-stitched, revealing their ultimate effect only when some 500 pages are shaken out and the dazzling design shows, in all the glory of its pattern, texture, and color." -- Hilary Mantel
-- New York Review of Books
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd
Published date: 1999
Other Editions
Similar books
Scandalmonger
by William Safire
The bestselling historical novel that exposes the less than honorable side of our Founding Fathers by the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. In this gripping and timely work, William Safire unveils the story behind the nation's first great political scandals. James Thomson Callender, the "scandalmonger" of the title, is an ambitious gossip-peddling editor secretly hired by Thomas Jefferson as a political weapon. After carefully damaging Alexander Hamilton's reputation, thereby paving the way for Jefferson's success, Callender is shunned by the very politicians on whose behalf he was jailed for sedition. Broke and betrayed, Callender seeks revenge by exposing an illicit affair between Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemmings, an accusation that ultimately cost Callender his career and would not be authenticated for two centuries. By using actual letters, records, and notes to re-create dialogue and events, Scandalmonger embodies historical fiction at its best, politics at its most intriguing, and our Founding Fathers at their most notorious. For those who think that Washington sex scandals and lurid journalism are recent developments, this novel will be a revelation, for Safire shows how media intrusiveness into private lives-and politicians' cool manipulation of the press-are practices as old as the Constitution.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford
by Ron Hansen
Hansen re-creates the real West with his imaginative telling of the life of the most famous outlaw of them all, Jesse James, and of his death at the hands of the upstart Robert Ford. James, a charismatic, superstitious, and moody man, holds sway over a ragged gang who fear his temper and quick shooting. Robert Ford, a young gang member torn between worshipping Jesse and taking his place, guns him down in cold blood and lives out his days tormented by the killing.
The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A tragedy of Shakespearean force and intensity, Dostoyevsky's drama of parricide and family rivalry chronicles the murder of depraved landowner Fyodor Karamazov and the subsequent investigation and trial. Extensive notes explain the many literary and topical allusions and provide background information.
Barnaby Rudge
by Charles Dickens
Set at the time of the Gordon anti-Catholic riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge is Dicken's powerful, atmospheric novel of madness, murder, and lurid mob violence. It is also a tale of love thwarted by the designs of Geoffrey Haredale and the villain Sir John Chester, and the heroism of Edward Chester in rescuing the innocent Emma. Other characters include Lord George Gordon himself, and Grip, the raven who inspired Edgar Allan Poe's poem.
Down by the River
by Edna O'Brien
Set in her native Ireland, Edna O'Brien's newest novel explores the dark and torturous aspects of family ties. As Mary, the young heroine, tries first to conceal and then to escape her father's fateful attention, she finds herself driven into an emotional Styx. She becomes pregnant with her father's child, and as her private - and redeemable - tragedy is dragged into the public realm, she falls prey to militant factions on all sides.
|
0 items in cart
Muze Inc. For personal non-commercial use only. All rights reserved. Some content for books is owned by Baker & Taylor, Inc. or its licensors and is subject to copyright and all other protections provided by applicable law.
