Just like Stephen King , Margaret Atwoodis more omnipresent than ever in the twilight of her career . Her classic women’s rightist novelThe Handmaid ’s Talesaw a wildly democratic tv adjustment in the first place this yr , and her 1996 novelAlias Gracehas just hit Netflix as a miniseries .
Atwood is known for her risky fable that imagines thought - provoking what - ifs about the near time to come , butAlias Graceis a work of historical fabrication . Here are nine things to acknowledge before you start your binge - watch .
1. IT’S ONE OF THREE ATWOOD ADAPTATIONS HITTING THE SMALL SCREEN THIS YEAR.
Atwood ’s Graeco-Roman 1986 novelThe Handmaid ’s Taleof path already came out on Hulu andgarneredseveral Emmys , including Outstanding Drama Series . ButAlias Gracefollows another Atwood adaption of a children ’s Bible she write in 2011 calledWandering Wenda and Widow Wallop ’s Wunderground Washery , which aired in Canada this spring asWandering Wenda . ( It will ventilate in the United States in December . )
2. IT’S BASED ON A TRUE STORY.
Alias Gracetells the story of a young Irish servant named Grace Marks , who kill her employer and his mistress in 1843 Canada with the aid of a virile servant . The virile servant hangs for the offence ; gracility is institutionalized for eld and becomes an object of social peculiarity as a young and beautiful " murderess . " The storey follows a young psychologist as he talks to Grace years after the offense , seek to find her level of culpability . It frequently jumps into the past , following Grace ’s life leading up to the murder . Although Atwood invented the psychologist character , Grace and her murder victim werevery real .
3. NOBODY KNOWS HOW THE STORY ENDS.
4. EVEN IN THE 1800S, PEOPLE WERE DRAWN TO THE STORY’S SEX AND VIOLENCE.
The stereotype of the 1800s is of a button - up epoch in which a lady showing her ankle joint was considered racy . But society had the same interestingness in sex and violence as it does today . “ The details were sensational,“Atwood wrotein the novel ’s afterword . " thanksgiving Marks was uncommonly pretty and also extremely young ; Kinnear ’s housekeeper , Nancy Montgomery , had previously give birthing to an illegitimate child and was Thomas Kinnear ’s kept woman ; at her autopsy she was find to be meaning . Grace and her fellow servant James McDermott had pass off to the United States together and were assumed by the printing press to be lover . The combination of sexual practice , violence and the reprehensible insubordination of the humble class was most attractive to the journalists of the day . ''
5. MARGARET ATWOOD GOT THE IDEA FOR THE BOOK WHEN SHE WAS STILL IN COLLEGE.
Although Margaret Atwood was 57 years sure-enough whenAlias Gracewas publish , she had been thinking about the idea for many age . She first descend across Grace Marks ’s taradiddle in Susanna Moodie ’s 1853 bookLife in the Clearings , which she understand while studying at Harvard , where she got her master key ’s degree and pursue a doctor’s degree for two age .
6. ATWOOD’S GOAL WAS TO FOCUS ON HOW SOCIETY VIEWS MALE VERSUS FEMALE MURDERERS.
As with all of Atwood ’s work , Alias Graceis sharply focused on gender political sympathies . In this case , Atwood wanted to research the difference in how society views virile murderers versus female manslayer . Throughout the story , Grace is alternately an object of pity , desire , fascination , fear , horror , and enigma . While promoting the series at the Toronto International Film Festival , Atwood explicate that she would n’t have been concerned in Grace if the the true about the execution was absolute .
“ There were so many dissimilar , self-contradictory account about Grace Marks ; nobody really ever know whether she had kill anybody or not,”Atwood said . “ There were four people in the family . Two of them were murdered , the third one was hanged , and she was the one left . And she never recount . If I had known the truth , I probably would n’t have written a account book … The interesting matter is the way everybody projects their ideas onto Grace . ”
7. ATWOOD FIRST EXPLORED THE STORY IN A PLAY THAT CAME OUT 22 YEARS BEFORE THE BOOK.
Atwood ’s playThe Servant Girlalso distinguish a version of Grace Marks ’s story . It was filmed for CBC - TV and aired in 1974 , more than 20 year beforeAlias Gracewas publish .
8. THE NEWSPAPER EXCERPTS IN THE BOOK ARE REAL.
Atwood wanted to cling to the truth as much as potential even in a report with spotty facts . " If you ’re dealing with thing that in reality are have intercourse , you ca n’t willy-nilly change that to beseem yourself,“she said . Because of this approach , she did n’t have to invent the paper citation and excerpt that seem in the book ; they come from real root .
9. ATWOOD WAS PARTLY INSPIRED BY A MORE RECENT FEMALE MURDERER WHO IS STILL ALIVE.
Between 1990 and 1992 , Karla Homolka and her married man Paul Bernardo raped and slay at least three young women — include Karla ’s sister , Tammy . Though both were convict of the crime , Karla struck aplea bargainand was only charged with manslaughter ; she was bring out from prison house in 2005 . Atwood has mentioned Homolka when talking aboutAlias Grace .
" In murders in which there are a man and a woman take , public vox populi normally goes in the next fashion : everybody is agreed on the Isle of Man but opinion is commonly split about the woman , " Atwoodexplainedin an consultation with CBC . " One side : ' She instigated it all . She ’s the distaff daimon . ' The other side : ' She is an impeccant victim coerce by force , circumstance and fearfulness . ' That ’s how it split on Karla and it was for certain how it split on Grace . "
