In 1843 in Canada West, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery were murdered by two of Mr Kinnear’s employees. Servants Grace Marks and James McDermott were convicted of the crime. McDermott was hanged and Marks was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Although the novel is based on factual events, Atwood constructs a narrative with a fictional doctor, Simon Jordan, who researches the case.
Grace had been hired out from prison to serve as a domestic servant in the home of the Governor of the penitentiary. A committee of gentlemen and ladies from the Methodist church, led by the minister, hoped to have her pardoned and released. Grace cannot remember what happened on the day of the murders, and she exhibits symptoms of hysteria, so the minister hires Dr. Simon Jordan, a psychiatrist, to interview her, hoping he will find her to be a hysteric, and not a criminal. An arrangement is made for Jordan to interview Grace during afternoons in the sewing room in the governor's mansion. While Jordan is ostensibly conducting research into criminal behaviour, he slowly becomes personally involved in Grace's story and seeks to reconcile his perception of the mild-mannered woman he sees with the murder of which she has been convicted.
In 1872, after almost thirty years incarceration, Marks was pardoned and moved to Upstate New York, after which all definitive historical trace of her was lost.
Graces’ story is thoroughly absorbing.
In 1872, after almost thirty years incarceration, Marks was pardoned and moved to Upstate New York, after which all definitive historical trace of her was lost.
Graces’ story is thoroughly absorbing.
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