Review: Alias Grace

Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel is based on the actual case of Grace Marks, a Canadian woman convicted of murder at the age of 16. In July 1843 Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear were murdered and this novel tells the story of that murder and the life of the woman convicted of it. The story is a page turner and the writing is wonderful. Each section of the novel is named for a quilt block which provides something of a theme to each section.
Generation X included a passage describing Toronto which I included in my review. This novel also included a description of that city which struck me as interesting.

"Everything is new and brisk, bustling and bright, vulgar and complacent, with a smell of fresh money and fresh paing about it. Fortunes have been made here in a very short time, with more in the making. There are the usual shops and commercial buildings, and a surprising number of banks. None of the eating establishments looks at all promising." (p.366)

I read The Blind Assassin several years ago and really liked it. I plan to read more of Atwood's books.
This book counts toward my Canadian Book Challenge as Atwood lives in Toronto, the story is set in Canada, and it is based on an event that happened there.