#Doubleday Canada

[flaviathebibliophile]

Two For the Road by Chantel Guertin (ARC Review)

Title: Two for the RoadAuthor: Chantel GuertinType: FictionGenre: Adult, Contemporary, RomancePublisher: Doubleday CanadaDate published: December 13, 2022 A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Sometimes there are detours on the road to love . . .Gigi Rutherford loves love stories. She reads them, she sells them at her…

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb:

"A delightful read that's guaranteed to add sparkle and joy to your holiday season!" —Marissa Stapley, bestselling co-author of Three Holidays and a Wedding A charming and rollicking holiday rom-com about a big-city film director who must convince the dreamy, yet grumpy, mayor of a small town to give her the permit to shoot her Christmas movie in his idyllic hometown. Perfect for fans of Hallmark holiday movies, and readers of Maggie Knox's All I Want for Christmas and The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.

Will magic happen under the mistletoe?

All year long, Zoey Andrews lives and breathes Christmas--not just because she loves everything about the festive season, but because, as the director of countless Christmas movies, she's perpetually (and happily) surrounded by 24/7 holiday cheer. And this year Christmas has come early: After years of making other people's movies, Zoey finally has the chance to make her own. There's just one thing standing in her way of that: Benoît Deschamps, the sexy, bearded, grouchy and utterly frustrating, plaid shacket-wearing tree-farm-owner-slash-mayor who refuses to grant Zoey the permit to film in Chelsea, the cozy and snowy Quebec hamlet at the center of her screenplay.

With just four days left before Christmas, Zoey must change Ben's mind, but not before an unscripted ice storm leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere, with nothing except . . . each other.

Will Ben's chilly resolve shatter Zoey's Christmas movie wish? Or will Zoey be able to melt through his stubbornness--and maybe even his heart?

Review:

A big-city film director needs to convince the grumpy but handsome mayor and owner of a Christmas tree farm to give her the permit to shoot her Christmas movie in his town. Zoey Andrews absolutely adores Christmas and has directed a ton of Christmas movies. When there is a mistake in the film permits to get the location for her dream Christmas movie of her own she decides to take matters into her own hands and flies down to Canada a few days before Christmas to try and get it. There she meets Benoît Deschamps, the very handsome but grumpy mayor of the town and owner of the perfect Christmas tree farm who is standing in her way and refuses to let her film in his town. Zoey will not give up but Ben is not changing his mind, but when a snowstorm hits and they both get stranded in the middle of nowhere they will be forced to face each other. Can Zoey change his mind before it's too late or will he never give in? It will definitely take a Christmas miracle! Unfortunately I just wasn't feeling this one, it was all the parts of a Hallmark movie but fell flat for me. I really just didn't see any romance or chemistry between Zoey and Ben and just couldn't get into the book no matter how hard I tried unfortunately. If you are looking for a Christmas romance with a grumpy love interest and the trope of being stranded together then give this one a go!

*Thanks Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada, Doubleday Canada for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[deathdyinggrief2023]

Thanatology Bibliography

THANATOLOGY READINGS 

Moll, Rob. (2010). The Art of Dying: Living Fully Into the Life to Come. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. ISBN: 9780830837366 

Parkes, C., Laungani, P. and Young, W. (1997). Death and Bereavement Across Cultures. London: Routledge. ISBN: 9780415131377

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alford, John & Catlin, George. (1993). The role of culture in grief. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133(2), 173-84.

Aries, Philippe. (1976). The Hour of Our Death. New York: Bantom.

Burton, Laurel., & Tarlos-Benka, Judy. (1997). Grief-Driven Ethical Decision-Making. Journal of Religion and Health, 36(4), 333-343. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/27511175

Castle, Jason. & Phillips, William. (2003). Grief rituals: Aspects that facilitate adjustment to bereavement. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 8(1), 41-71.

Corr, Charles A., Donna M. Corr, and Kenneth J. Doka. (2019).  Death & Dying, Life & Living. Boston, MA: Cengage.

Crunk, Elizabeth. Burke, Laurie., & Robinson, Mike. (2017). Complicated grief: An evolving theoretical landscape. Journal of Counseling & Development, 95(2), 226-233.

Doughty, Caitlin. (2015). Smoke gets in your eyes and other lessons from the crematory. New York: Northcott. 

Dresser, Norine & Wasserman, Freda. (2010). Saying goodbye to someone you love: Your emotional journey through end-of-life and grief. New York: Demos Medical Publishing. 

Frank, Arthur W. (2013). The wounded storyteller. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Guinther, Paul.,Segal, Daniel. (2003). Gender differences in emotional processing among bereaved older adults. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 8(1), 15-33.

Heath, Yvonne. (2015). Love your life to death: How to plan and prepare for end of life so you can live life fully now. Canada: Marquis Publishing.

Hemer, Susan. (2010). Grief as social experience: Death and bereavement in lihir, papua new guinea¹. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 21(3), 281-297. 

Kalanithi, Paul. (2016). When Breath Becomes Air. New York: Random House.

Kellehear, Allan. (2002). Grief and loss: Past, present and future. Medical Journal of Australia, 177(4), 176-177.

Kwon, Soo-Young. (2006). Grief ministry as homecoming: Framing death from a korean-american perspective. Pastoral Psychology, 54(4), 313-324. doi:10.1007/s11089-005-0002-1

Lawrence, Elizabeth., Jeglic, Elizabeth., Matthews, Laura., & Pepper, Carolyn. (2006). Gender differences in grief reactions following the death of a parent. Omega - Journal of Death and Dying, 52(4), 323-337.

Leone Fowler, Shannon. (2017). Traveling with Ghosts. New York: Simon & Schuster. 

Lewis, Clive Staples. (2009). The Problem of Pain. New York: Harper. 

Lopez, Sandra. (2011). Culture as an influencing factor in adolescent grief and bereavement. Prevention Researcher, 18(3), 10-13.

McCreight, Bernadette. (2004). A grief ignored: Narratives of pregnancy loss from a male perspective.Sociology of Health & Illness, 26(3), 326-350.

Miller, Eric. (2015). Evaluations of hypothetical bereavement and grief: The influence of loss recency, loss type and gender. International Journal of Psychology: Journal International De Psychologie, 50(1), 60-3. doi:10.1002/ijop.12080

Northcott, Herbert.C., & Wilson, Donna.M. (2017). Dying and death in Canada (3rd ed.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 

Nuland, Sherwin B. (1995). How We Die. New York: Vintage.

Penman, Emma., Breen, Lauren., Hewitt, Lauren., & Prigerson, Holly. (2014). Public attitudes about normal and pathological grief. Death Studies, 38(8), 510-516.

Rosenstein, Donald L. & Yopp, Justin M. (2018). The Group: Seven widowed fathers reimagine life. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rubinstein, Gidi. (2004). Locus of control and helplessness: Gender differences among bereaved parents. Death Studies, 28(3), 211-223.

Sandburg, Sheryl, & Grant, Adam. (2017). Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 

Schonfeld, Davis., Quackenbush, Mike., & Demaria, Thomas. (2015). Grief across cultures: Awareness for schools. Nasn School Nurse (print), 30(6), 350-2.

Stelzer, Eva-Maria., Atkinson, Ciara., O'Connor, Mary F., & Croft, Alyssa. (2019). Gender differences in grief narrative construction: A myth or reality? European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 10(1),

Stroebe, Margaret., & Schut, Hank. (1998). Culture and grief. Bereavement Care, 17(1).

Swinton, John and Richard Payne. (2009). Living Well and Dying Faithfully. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Tarakeshwar, Nalini., Hansen, Nathan., Kochman, Arlene., & Sikkema, Kathleen. (2005). Gender, ethnicity and spiritual coping among bereaved hiv-positive individuals. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 8(2), 109-125.

Versalle, Alexis. & McDowell, Eugene. (2005). The attitudes of men and women concerning gender differences in grief. Omega - Journal of Death and Dying, 50(1), 53-67.

Walter, Tony. (2010). Grief and culture. Bereavement Care, 29(2), 5-9. 

Walter, Tony. (2010). Grief and culture: A checklist. Bereavement Care, 29(2), 5-9.

Winkel, Heidemarie. (2001). A postmodern culture of grief? On individualization of mourning in Germany. Mortality, 6(1), 65-79.

[fictionophile]

Fictionophile's JUNE 2024 #BookHaul #Bookbloggers #ForthcomingTitles #TBR #AnticipatedReads

This month I added EIGHT new review commitments to my TBR mountain. Two were publisher widgets sent to me that I couldn’t resist ; three were ‘Download Now’ titles ; and I requested three. Temptation won me over… (All book descriptions are linked to Goodreads.) I received seven of these titles from NetGalley. My request was granted to read and review this title from Doubleday Canada/Penguin…

[frombehindthepen]

The Science of Life: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 🔬🔭🧪

The Science of Life: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 🔬🔭🧪 #Novel #Reading #Books

Image Source: People.com – PHOTO: DOUBLEDAY CANADA; DAIN RHYS EVANS This book was read by so many of my connections on Goodreads and has been on my TBR list for a while now. Now I understand why so many gave this book a round of applause and is a must-read. While this novel occurred in the 60s, so much of the content is sadly still relevant today.    Lessons in Chemistry is funny, infuriating,…

[bookcoversonly]

Title: End of Days | Author: Eric Walters | Publisher: Doubleday Canada (2011)

[kevinwillpkgd]

publishing 2024

Bridge of Birds: World fantasy award 1985: Barry Hughart quote.

Publishers.

Unfortunately, I had St. Martins, which didn't even bother to send a postcard when I won the World Fantasy Award;

Ballantine, which was dandy until my powerhouse editor dropped dead and her successors forgot my existence;

and Doubleday, which released The Story of the Stone three months before the pub date, guaranteeing that not one copy would still be on the shelves when reviews came out,

then published the hardcover and the paperback of Eight Skilled Gentlemen simultaneously, and then informed me they would bring out further volumes in paperback only, meriting, of course, a considerably reduced advance.

***

Try ordering a book these sad days. (in canada)

Now today in NA, white-boy? SF is children's lit; ebooks don't exist as long as they threaten textbook publishers and the PC push for Indians, women, minorities, immigrants, gays and Anyone-But-You publishing means you're out.

Watch sales? I watched the female eds (and writers) in the 90s kill the bolo tank series by adding character development, etc.

And, of course... The remarkable ease of electronic theft, copying and whatnot leaving (8-100) illegal copies for every sold one.

Waiting for the sanitization of Patron users; non PC opinions will be eliminated. Resistance is futile. Papal will freeze you out... Midway thru a run.

Then AI drivel will avalanche you under.

[807booksandnovelties]

Kiss of the Fur Queen is a novel by Tomson Highway, first published by Doubleday Canada in September 1998. The novel’s main characters are Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis, two young Cree brothers from Eemanipiteepitat in northern Manitoba who are taken from their families and sent to a residential school.

Kiss of the Fur Queen - Tomson Highway | 807 Books and Novelties

[karenlacorte]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Best In Children's Books.

[eelsinbrine]

Alan Mellor, D., 2005. Lilian Lijn: Works 1959 - 80. Manchester: Mead Gallery. Ann Bowers, M., 2004. Magic(al) Realism. New York: Routledge. Bourriaud, N., 1998. Relational Aesthetics. s.l.:Les Presses du Réel. Bruno, G., 2007. Public Intimacy: Architecture and The Visual Arts. s.l.:MIT. Coverley, M., 2010. Psychogeography. Herts: Pocket Essentials.

Danielewski, M. Z., 2000. House of Leaves. 2nd Edition ed. London: Doubleday. Eco, U., 1998. FAITH IN FAKES: Travels in Hyperreality. London: Vintage. Eco, U., 2018. Chronicles of a Liquid Society. London: Vintage. Grombrich, E. H., 1984. The Story of Art. 14th Edition ed. Oxford: Phaidon. Grovier, K., 2015. Art Since 1989. London: Thames & Hudson.

Hen, His Wife. 1990. [Film] Directed by Igor Kovalyov. Russia: s.n. Hendrix, G., 2017. Paperbacks from Hell: the Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. Philadelphia: Quirk Books. Howes, D., 2005. Empire of The Senses. Oxford: Berg. Ito, J., 2020. Venus in the blind Spot. 1st Edition ed. San Fransisco: Shogakukan. Jiangfeng, P., 2013. What Can We Do: Chinese Typography Design and Cross-Cultural Visual Communication. Shanghai: Shanghai ShuHua Publishing House. Lefebvre, H., 1991. The Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell. Levey, M., 1968. From Giotto to Cézanne: a Concise History of Painting. 1979 reprint ed. s.l.:Thames & Hudson. Mackean, D. G., 1973. Introduction to Biology. 5th Edition ed. Norwich: Jarrod & Sons Ltd. . Rendell, J., Penner, B. & Borden, I., 2000. Gender Space Architecture. Oxford: Routledge. Rodaway, P., 1994. Sensuous Geographies: Body, Sense and Place. 2011 Paperback Edition ed. Oxford: Routledge. Ross, E., 2015. FILMISH: A Graphic Journey Through Film. London: Self Made Hero. Vince, G., 2019. Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty and Time. Milton Keynes: Allen Lane (an imprint of Penguin Books). When the Day Breaks. 1999. [Film] Directed by Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis. Canada: National Film Board of Canda. Williams, R., 1980. Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso.

[equestrianempire]

Rodrigo Pessoa Received an International Award at the Induction Gala for the Show Jumping Hall of Fame

Lexington, Kentucky, USA – March 8, 2024&nbsp, – Francisco” Pancho” Lopez, &nbsp, lifelong house director for Katie Monahan Prudent and then Elise Haas, and&nbsp, Cedric, Laura Kraut’s gold medal Olympic support, were inducted into the&nbsp, Show Jumping Hall of Fame&nbsp, during the Hall of Fame’s Induction Gala in Wellington, Florida, on March 3. The Hall of Fame also honored Olympic, World and World Cup champion&nbsp, Rodrigo Pessoa&nbsp, ( BRA ) as recipient of the Hall ‘s&nbsp, International Award.

It was our biggest and best yet, according to Show Jumping Hall of Fame president Peter Doubleday, who also chairs the organization’s annual induction ceremony as part of a sit-down supper in Wellington. ” We sold out in advance and, unfortunately, had to turn away many people who wanted to be there. Our club’s history was on display with 15 Hall oƒ Famers and many more of our sport’s mythology in attendance. Once more, it was a fantastic day that we will remember fondly each year.

The Hall of Fame presented its International Award for just the second time prior to the formal induction of Lopez and&nbsp, Cedric, with Rodrigo Pessoa ( FRA ), one of the most successful riders in show jumping history, receiving the award. At the World Equestrian Games in 1998 and the Olympic Games in 2004, Pessoa ωon the personal Gold Medal. He also won the championship in 1998, 1999, and 2000, making him the only horse to ever triumph in the FEI World Cup Fiȵals three times in α row. &nbsp,

While ƫhe Hall of Fame is intended for Americans who have had a major influence on thȩ game, we are aware of some outstanding international users who have made a significant influence on display jumping įn tⱨis nation,” said Doubleday. ” With that in mind, we launched our International Award last year and presented the annual award to Canada’s Ian Millar. Rodrigo was an obvious çhoice when we considered applicants ƒor the prizȩ this year, and listening to his moving talk at the supper made it clear that we made the right choice.

The induction dinner, held at the Wanderers Club in Wellington, also recognized 15 others in attendance who have previously been inducted into the Hall of Fame including Olympic veterans Mary Chapot, Margie Engle, Leslie Howard, Anne Kursinski, Beezie Madden, Michael Matz, Melanie Smith Taylor and Katie Prudent ( 1980 Alternate Olympics ), as well as Linda Allen, Jane Forbes Clark, Anthony D’Ambrosio, David Distler, Peter Doubleday, Danny Marks and former Olympic rider and current U. Ș. chef d’equipe Robert Ridland. People in enrollment included Olympic soldiers McLain Ward, Lauren Hough, Will Simpson, Nick Skelton, Shane Sweetnam, and Mac Cone and Grand Prix users Georgina Bloomberg, Carly Anthony, Heather Caristo- Williams, Jimmy Torano, Kelli Cruciotti- Vanderveen, Schuyler Riley, and Coco Fath.

Robin Parsky, Beth Johnson, Charlie Jacobs, who sponsored the gathering’s presence oƒ all Hall of Famers, and the Wheeler Family, who sponsored the cocktaiI reception and empty table. Also sponsoring were the Hall of Fame’s corporate sponsors – Blenheim EquiSports, Charles Ancona, CMJ Sporthorse, Hampton Classic Horse Show, Kentucky Horse Park, LAURACEA, LEG Colorado Horse Shows, Markel Insurance, Palm Beach International Academy, Rood &amp, Riddle Equine Hospital, United States Hunter Jumper Association ( USHJA ), Washington International Horse Show, and Wellington International. Stand dσnors included John Madden Sales, Leslie Howard, Oliynyk Show Stables, Margaret Duprey and Laura Kraut.

Source: Press Release (edited ) from Show Jumping Hall of Fame

Photo: © SHOF / KindMedia

Related

Categories: Awards, English, Jumper News Brasil

Identified as: Honors, Equestrian, Horses, Jumper News, Jumper News USA, Rodrigo Pessoa, Show Jumping Hall of Fame, Show Jumping Hall of Fame Gala, Showjumping, The Wanderers Club, United States Equestrian Federation, US Equestrian, USEF, Wanderers Club

[radioactivesimsandstuff]

Book Review: The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

Book Review: The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

5/5 Stars 416 pagesPublished April 27th 2021 by Doubleday Canada A book about a very unique end of the world as we know it kind of situation, we get to see everything happening through a multitude of different women. From reporters and doctors to stay at home mothers, and everything in between, all of it just really works well together. When a modern day plague takes out most of the world’s…

[universitybookstore]

It’s CANADA DAY!!! Wishing our friends north of the 49th a happy holiday! Meanwhile, I'll be settling down with a Molson and Mike Myers’ ode to his home country, Canada, available here in the states from Doubleday Canada. Now can someone tell me why there is no Tim Horton's in Seattle?

O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

[mbarrick]

Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey Chuck Palahniuk, 2007 Doubleday Canada, CA, first Canadian edition 2007

[the-shelfish-reader]

ALIAS GRACE

By Margaret Atwood

©️1996; 465 pg; Nan A. Talese/Doubleday

I didn’t really want to re-read this one because of the 2017 Netflix miniseries adaptation. I’ve only read this book one time, when I bought it new, but my memory of it was pleasant. When the miniseries debuted on Netflix, I tried to watch it, but it was terrible, which made me question my memory. That was my opinion in 2017. Maybe I’ll give it another shot now that I’ve finished the book, because I enjoyed it so much this time around.

This is fiction, yes, but it can be considered historical fiction. Grace Marks, her alleged crimes, and nearly all the characters who appear in these pages actually existed, and the events described actually occurred. In 1845, in Toronto, a 15-year-old household servant was arrested and tried for murder and being an accessory to another. The victims were Thomas Kinnear, an unmarried man of some wealth, and his housekeeper/lover Nancy Montgomery. They were killed with an axe (Kinnear) and by strangulation (Montgomery.) Grace was just a servant who did cleaning, sewing, laundry, gardening, and feeding the animals. Nancy was Grace’s superior, so she gave orders that Grace carried out. Kinnear’s farmhouse was in Richmond Hill, a suburb north of Toronto now, but in the mid-nineteenth century, it was so far from that city that it took eight or more hours to reach by carriage.

We meet Grace in the present of this book, which is in 1861. She is the narrator of her own life, and so the reader comes to know and understand Grace quite well, as first-person accounts are generally rife with the character’s thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. She is a convicted murderess who had her death sentence commuted to life in prison, mainly due to the efforts of a group of upper class professionals who found her story tragic and did not believe Grace could have committed one murder, much less two. Grace’s main defense at her trial was her near-total amnesia surrounding the night of the murders. She can’t remember what she said or did—only the terror:

“When you are in the middle of a story it isn’t a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It’s only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone else.”

Grace and her family emigrated from Belfast to Canada. Her father was a talented and experienced stonemason. Tragically, her mother became ill (possibly with cholera), and died during the long journey by ship. She was buried at sea, a fact that weighed heavily on young Grace’s mind for the duration of this story. Upon reaching Canada, she, her father, and her nine siblings lived in two rooms in a boarding house much too small for them, wholly dependent on income their father managed to bring home.

Very unfortunately for his children, Mr. Marks seemed unable to move past his bad luck at having a wife who died just as the family was moving to improve their lives. A recurring theme of this novel is women’s suffering, always at the hands of men, and it begins here, with Mr. Marks’ belief that HIS troubles were to be blamed on his dead wife. He never really sought much work after arriving in Canada and spent most of his time in the local tavern. When Grace was fifteen, he told her it was time for her to get out and make her own way, just as he had done with her two elder siblings when they turned that age. And so Grace embarked upon her life in domestic service, offering her sewing skills and other qualifications in exchange for room and board, which is how things worked in 1845.

She meets the woman who became her best friend in the world at her first job. This was at the sprawling, very grand home of city Alderman Parkinson. We never learn this gentleman’s first name, as he is only referred to as Alderman Parkinson, so I guess that was a Very Big Deal at the time. Mary Whitney, the housekeeper (essentially her supervisor) was sweet-tempered, generous, and treated Grace like a sister. They shared a bed (again, it was 1845, so nothing sexual about it), confidences, and dreams, and Mary protected Grace and educated her in the ways of polite society and the dangers of impolite acquaintances. Like men. Some men were great men, like aldermen and doctors and judges—to be respected and maybe a little feared, but certainly trusted. Others were cads and blackguards who would try to take liberties, more often drunk than not, and they should never be trusted.

These lessons proved devastatingly ironic when Mary becomes pregnant by one of Alderman Parkinson’s adult sons. She refused to tell Grace the father’s name, only that she had told him and been given five dollars, then ordered away. So Mary and Grace began to plan a cover story for Mary’s abortion. They find a “doctor,” the procedure is performed, and Mary dies of blood loss in her and Grace’s bed.

Grace, grieving and in shock, is immediately dismissed. Mrs. Alderman Parkinson was furious that Grace hadn’t come to her and divulged all she knew about Mary’s pregnancy OR that she planned to terminate it, and therefore she couldn’t be trusted any longer. The woman is also frightened about the father’s identity, as it’s clear she suspects her sons. This loss is as painful as the loss of her mother, and Mary’s spirit stays with Grace from this point forward in her life, and is a significant factor in what happens later.

This is not the only unplanned pregnancy between an employer and a servant in this book.

Grace then accepts a position in the home of an upper-class gentleman named Thomas Kinnear, out in the country, where the total staff is only Nancy Montgomery and the handyman, James McDermott. He has a thing for Grace from the start, but she ignores him, then evades him as he begins to try to take all kinds of of sexual liberties with her. Mr. Kinnear is often gone for long stretches of time, and when he’s gone, Nancy asks Grace to sleep with her—in Mr. Kinnear’s bed. It slowly dawns on Grace that her master and his housekeeper are sleeping together, which was very scandalous at the time and seemed evil to Grace. So when Nancy starts gaining weight, then throwing up every morning, Grace knows exactly what’s wrong with her, since she observed Mary Whitney experiencing the same things early in her pregnancy.

One hot July night, McDermott approaches Grace and tells her he’s thinking of killing Mr. Kinnear so he can rob the house of its silver and other valuables. Grace doesn’t believe he’s serious. But of course, McDermott does it anyway, and since Nancy was a witness, he kills her, too. He then carried both bodies down to the cellar, methodically went through every cupboard and drawer in the house and took everything he could sell. He makes Grace come with him by making her believe that if she doesn’t, she will undoubtedly hang for the double murder, and so she complies. They are arrested in America, having managed to board a ferry to Maine.

The novel isn’t built like a linear story. There are alternating chapters from Grace’s first-person account of her life, which is introduced by way of a Dr. Simon Jordan, a psychologist, or alienist, who has traveled to the Toronto women’s prison to interview Grace and try to restore her memory of that night. The story of his interest in Grace’s case and their many sessions spent in therapy is the main focus of other third-person chapters. We learn Simon has a sharp mind and good heart. Grace never fully recovers her memories of the murders, but she knows she had nothing to do with any kind of violence. That evidently wasn’t enough to convince a judge and jury, but we the readers know she is innocent. There are many lengthy letters to and from Simon from various other doctors, prison wardens, and his family regarding his patient and her murder conviction. Some of this correspondence can be difficult to get through, but all of it fleshes out this strange period in American history and the prevailing attitudes towards mental health, “hysteria” in women, the servant class, and the appalling prison conditions of the time. The practice of psychiatry was in its infancy, and the observations made by various medical practitioners with regard to Grace’s mental status were influenced by the prevailing attitudes towards women and poorly-understood mental health issues, like trauma and amnesia. The age of ignorance is displayed in a snippet of correspondence from a doctor who oversaw Grace’s “treatment” immediately after her arrest to Simon:

“Continuous observation of her, and of her contrived antics, led me to deduce that she was not in fact insane, as she pretended, but was attempting to pull the wool over my eyes in a studied and flagrant manner. To speak plainly, her madness was a fraud and an imposture, adopted by her in order that she might indulge herself and be indulged…she is an accomplished actress and a most practiced liar.”

We and Simon never do learn, exactly, what Grace went through at the hands of McDermott, who testified both murders were Grace’s idea and that she helped him drag the bodies to the cellar (frankly unbelievable from what we know about Grace). His testimony was the main reason she was convicted, and he was also convicted and was executed by hanging shortly after her trial. But we do understand Grace’s temperament, her nature, her most private thoughts and desires, and we know she only cooperated with McDermott in order to survive. Her story has an happy ending (or as happy an ending as was posssible) when her conviction is overturned, she is set free, emigrates to America, marries and, by the conclusion, is three months into a miracle pregnancy herself. She is 45 and has spent 29 years in prison, so it’s a bittersweet ending, but doubtless far happier than she could have expected.

The novel is beautifully written, like all Atwood’s novels, and the everyday lives of people in the mid-19th century are finely drawn. It’s impossible to come away from this book and not be grateful the world has moved on. It’s no picnic in 2021 for either women or the poor, but we/they have more choices now than poor Grace Marks could ever have dreamed of.