Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

A heartbreaking story based on real events surrounding a murder case in the 1800s with the accused being Grace Marks. The story as told by Margaret Atwood is however a work of fiction retold using the same places and dates as the actual story. As I read the book, I thought of a Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

The story begins with Grace Marks as a child in Ireland. Her father an abusive alcoholic and her mother bearing children after children, the family is supported to some extent by Grace’s aunt and uncle. Finally fed up of supporting this ever-growing family, the uncle suggests a migration to Canada and to their luck, Grace’s father has been getting into some trouble with the law due to which he takes up the proposition. Unfortunately, Grace’s mother dies on the journey and is buried at sea. Grace later regrets using her mother’s second best blanket to wrap her dead body.

Coming to Canada, life gets a bit better as she finds herself a maid in a household. Her first true friend Mary Whitney turns her life around and she finds herself happy for the first time ever. But a cruel turn of fate leaves Mary Whitney pregnant out of wedlock by someone who she thought would marry her but in end doesn’t. In the 1800s, being a mother out of wedlock would mean being turned out into the streets and taking up a profession like prostitution which would eventually kill her. Something in the book seems to hint the father of the child might be a member of the household they work for. Mary eventually tried to get a abortion but in those days abortion clinics were little more than slaughterhouses. The abortion is a disaster and Mary dies that night. Mary’s death leaves a hole in Grace’s life as Mary was her mentor and protector.

Grace moves from job to job until she finally ends up working for Mr. Kinnear. Mr. Kinnear is fairly wealthy and has a house in-charge called Nancy who even though being a servant was his lover. Grace knows nothing of this when she takes the job but as she moves in, her relationship with Nancy becomes rocky pivoting between extreme friendliness and extreme hostility. There is James McDormett who is the stable hand and Jamie Walsh who is not exactly the servant but tends to hang around. James McDormett is the first to antagonize Nancy who fires him. James decides to kill her and Mr. Kinnear as an act of revenge. Nancy in her mood swings also terminates Grace. James tries to bring Grace into his plot but according to her narrative, she refuses. The double murder takes place, James and Grace try to flee, are caught and brought back to face trial. Both of them are given the death penalty as both of them through their lawyers try to pin the blame on the other. James claims Grace manipulated him into killing them as she was jealous of Nancy while Grace claimed she had nothing to do with it. Eventually, James is hanged while Grace escapes at the last minute.

Grace Marks then narrates her whole life story to Simon Jordan who is an American psychiatrist performing research into insanity. Simon seems to find her story convincing and feels she may be innocent as many of the characters in her story do exist – Mary Whitney for instance is real and not a fictional character. However, he can find no signs of apparent insanity that could help a group of people who wish to enter a plea of insanity on behalf of Grace to obtain a pardon.

Initially, Simon appears as the face of sanity among all these as he uses his knowledge of medicine and science to unravel this murder mystery. It appears as if there was never any doubt about Grace being either an active participant in the murders or merely the seductress who led James on to commit the murders. What Simon is set out to determine is if there was an alter-ego commanding Grace to commit the murders. He seems to think Mary Whitney’s death may have played a role in her wanting to commit murder as a means of self-preservation. Some accounts of Grace’s story mentions voices, but he still can’t make out if that was a natural reaction to the stressful events or in reality a case of insanity.

Simon too is quick to get involved in a messy affair with his landlady while being expected to court the daughter of the prison’s Governor. Eventually, the affair goes out of hand and Simon has to flee to the United States to avoid a scandal. Atwood’s presentation of this is quite strange. Almost as if Simon was led on and expected to have an affair with the landlady while only offering to help. And that his letting the affair take it’s course was merely the man being tempted by a seductress. And his flirtation with the Governor’s daughter was just what was expected of him and was his right. In a way, Atwood might have been describing the latitude offered to men in contrast to women back in those times.

Simon eventually gets involved in the American civil war as a military surgeon and his injury then leaves him without a part of his memory. Either it is a convenient memory loss or a poetic way to serve justice to someone who acted without impunity is hard to tell.

I was expecting the book to end like a Thousand Splendid Suns with Grace Marks dying in prison. But she receives a pardon, finds herself a home in the United States and gets married to the now grown Jamie Walsh from the old murder days. Towards the end, Grace does receive some kindness from those around her, the Governor of the prison and his daughter who prepare her for her new life. After 30 years in prison, Grace eventually leads a life she thought she never will just as her friend Mary Whitney never could.

A very well written novel and actually better than the Handmaid’s Tale. I suppose any story based on a dystopian future like 1984 gains a specific popularity. However, this book portrays Canada quite well. The book is set in Toronto and Kingston and I found the description of these places from 150 years back thoroughly enjoyable. Grace Marks makes the journey from Toronto to Richmond Hill along Yonge Street by carriage. Yonge Street is one of the longest roads in the world and it eventually lost first place to another road because a part of it becomes Highway 11 and if you travel along Yonge Street, it turns out to be quite an amazing journey. Some of Simon’s movements around Kingston are quite well described including his walks along the lakeshore.