Alias Grace (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Margaret Atwood
- First Published: 1996
- Type of Plot: Historical
- Time of Work: 1843-1873
- Setting: Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Principal Characters: Grace Marks, Simon Jordan, Thomas Kinnear, Nancy Montgomery, James McDermott, Jeremiah the peddler, Jamie Walsh
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction, Character study
- Subjects: Family or family life, Psychology or psychologists, Mental illness, Quilts or quilting, Women, Working class, Human behavior
- Locales: Kingston, Canada
The Novel
Alias Grace is a fictionalization of a historical character, Grace Marks, a notorious figure of the 1840’s who was imprisoned for twenty-eight years for her part in the murder of Thomas Kinnear, her wealthy employer, and Nancy Montgomery, his mistress and housekeeper. Atwood re-creates those events and the years of Grace’s incarceration. The novel itself takes place during the months that Dr. Simon Jordan spends in Kingston with Grace as his patient. An American doctor interested in the mind and desirous of opening his own lunatic asylum, he is fascinated...
[The entire page is 2175 words long]
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