Alias Grace [Audio Download]

Alias Grace tells the story of Grace Marks, a teenager found guilty, along with another man, of the murder of her master and his housekeeper in Canada in the 19th Century. It was a notorious case at the time, making the papers as far away as Britain. Grace was given a last minute reprieve from the gallows and instead had to serve a life sentence.

The books focuses upon a psychologist looking into whether her claim of amnesia regarding the events is genuine or not. Atwood has written his letters particularly well and she succeeds in drawing out much humour and emotion - especially is his mother's missives. Indeed the whole book draws together a number of different strands - prose, poetry, contemporary reports and knitting patterns - to great effect.

The main part of the book, however, focuses upon Grace. Grace isn't defined by who she is but by who other people want her to be - reflected in the title. People who believe she is guilty or innocent do not do so on the basis of the evidence, but rather by the weight of their expectations. Atwood makes no judgement as to whether she is guilty or not. I suspect she is guilty, but then am I bringing the weight of my expectations to the book?

In this way the book is curiously relevant - we live in a world where much violent crime is sensationalised, and we make relatively few judgements on the basis of facts but rather by instinct. In this way Atwood allows us to search ourselves as much as we do Grace.

Against the real life backdrop of the case of Grace Marks, a servant girl accused of murder in 1800s Canada, Atwood has created truly believeable characters and events.

"Alias Grace" tells the story of Grace through the guise of her recounting her life to a "new fangled" psychiatrist who has been sent to study her. Grace's story is intermingled with her private thoughts (perhaps revealing her own agenda), along with the perspective of those in society who are fascinated and sometimes repulsed by her.

Partly a "who-dun-it", the book also works on other levels. Atwood perfectly exposes the hypocrisy and prejudices operating in society at that time, by letting each character reveal their own motivations.

There are subtle sub-plots around the book's minor characters ; Atwood being the writer that she is, the novel has frequent feminist undertones ; the book is in part psychological study, and there are also some real questions raised within the novel that force readers to draw their own conclusions.

Please forget any preconceptions that you may have about Atwood as a writer, or the historical genre. If you have any interest in people and how they interact - or if you simply enjoy a well written novel - I promise that you will enjoy "Alias Grace".