History Literature / AliasGrace

* CanadaEh: Grace is astonished by the Canadian wilderness as they sail up the St. Lawrence River, and by just how cold it gets in Toronto in the winter.

* HeavySleeper: Grace is not a heavy ''sleeper'', ''per se'' (she even sleepwalks on numerous occasions), but is notorious for being a heavy ''[[FaintInShock fainter]]''. The frequency at which she faints is probably rivaled only by [[DeepSleep how unusually profoundly and unwakeably unconscious]] she goes whenever she does so. Many characters make notes of this trait of hers, including Grace herself, who, upon recounting a time she tried desperately not to let her emotions cause her to faint in a moment of peril, said that she knew that if she were to faint she'd undoubtedly be "as good as [[FauxDeath dead]]".

* {{Amnesia}}: A major theme of the book. Grace has numerous episodes of fainting or being hypnotized, during which she claims she can't remember what happened even though other characters say she was walking and talking normally.
** In a letter from Dr. Jordan's mother to Mrs. Humphrey towards the end of the book, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the wound Dr. Jordan sustained in the war caused him to lose his memory of the last few years, and he thinks his fiancee is Grace.]]

* FaintInShock: Grace faints frequently from shock, terror, and despair at situations such as [[spoiler:being sentenced to death]] and [[spoiler:being told that Dr. Jordan has left without saying goodbye]], and goes extremely deeply unconscious for long periods of time whenever she does so, often accompanied by some {{amnesia}} upon waking.

** Most of the other characters were invented or significantly enhanced by Atwood. Notably, there's no record of Marks being visited by a Dr. Jordan.

* {{Fainting}}: Grace faints frequently from shock, terror, and despair at situations such as [[spoiler:being sentenced to death]] and [[spoiler:being told that Dr. Jordan has left without saying goodbye]], and goes extremely deeply unconscious for long periods of time whenever she does so, often accompanied by some {{amnesia}} upon waking.

** Dr. Jordan's landlady faints from overexertion and hunger, and he was able to quickly restore her since he always carried the necessary remedies with him due to his being tasked with interviewing Grace, whose reputation as a frequent fainter precedes her.

BasedOnATrueStory, ''Alias Grace'' is a novelization of the life of Grace Marks, written by Creator/MargaretAtwood. Grace, a nineteenth-century Irish immigrant to Canada, is accused and convicted of murdering her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery; however, due to confusion about the facts of the case and Grace's own mental health, her sentence is commuted to from death by hanging to life in prison. The novel takes place almost a decade after the murders, in the Kingston Penitentiary, where Grace is being interviewed/interrogated by American psychologist Dr. Simon Jordan.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe. Grace complains that nobody can seem to make up their mind about her. Some people insist she's a seductive murderess who was responsible for everything that happened, others that she was a terrified innocent trapped by a violent criminal. Still others insist that she's mentally ill, or developmentally delayed. Grace just wishes they'd stop arguing and leave her alone.

* DueToTheDead: When Grace's mother has to be buried at sea, Grace has two options for wrapping the body: the new linen sheet her mother bought before they left Ireland, or the older, rattier one. Grace regrets the choice to use the older one, especially as her father just sells the new one when they get to Canada anyway, and wishes she'd shown her mother more respect.

** Dr. Jordan's maid faints from overexertion, and he was able to quickly restore her since he always carried the necessary remedies with him due to his being tasked with interviewing Grace, whose reputation as a frequent fainter precedes her.

* {{Fainting}}: Grace faints frequently, at situations such as [[spoiler:being sentenced to death]] or [[spoiler:running for her life and hearing a gunshot that she mistakenly believes has hit her]]. Her most significant faint, however, is when she faints from [[spoiler:the grief and shock over the traumatic death of her dearest friend Mary]]: she stays completely out cold for ten hours, during which no one could wake her, before briefly waking up, [[spoiler:evidently possessed by Mary's soul]], and promptly passing out yet again, staying gone for almost as long.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Grace Marks was a real person who went to jail for the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, for which her companion James [=McDermott=] was hanged. Marks also spent time in a lunatic asylum, where she was seen by Susannah Moodie; she was eventually pardoned and moved to the United States. Beyond that, it's impossible to know how much is true. Moodie's account of Marks's "lunacy" was a sensational one written for the popular press (the fictional Grace says it was common to act crazier than one actually was, to put on a show for the visitors), and primary sources other than Moodie's are sparse and contradictory. Marks herself wrote a confession that was published in several newspapers, but again, these are not consistent (journalistic standards of the time being looser) and was later recanted in any case.

BasedOnATrueStory, ''Alias Grace'' is a novelization of the life of Grace Marks, written by Creator/MargaretAtwood. Grace, a nineteenth-century Irish immigrant to Canada, is accused and convicted of murdering her employer, Thommas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery; however, due to confusion about the facts of the case and Grace's own mental health, her sentence is commuted to from death by hanging to life in prison. The novel takes place almost a decade after the murders, in the Kingston Penitentiary, where Grace is being interviewed/interrogated by American psychologist Dr. Simon Jordan.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Kind of. Grace Marks was a real person who went to jail for the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, for which her companion James [=McDermott=] was hanged. Marks also spent time in a lunatic asylum, where she was seen by Susannah Moodie; she was eventually pardoned and moved to the United States. Beyond that, it's impossible to know how much is true. Moodie's account of Marks's "lunacy" was a sensational one written for the popular press (the fictional Grace says it was common to act crazier than one actually was, to put on a show for the visitors), and primary sources other than Moodie's are sparse and contradictory. Marks herself wrote a confession that was published in several newspapers, but again, these are not consistent (journalistic standards of the time being looser) and was later recanted in any case.

* UnreliableNarrator: Grace admits to being one even in text; there are things she states in her internal monologue that she omits or alters when talking to Dr. Jordan, either because she thinks it's none of his business or she's saying what she thinks he wants to hear.

BasedOnATrueStory, ''Alias Grace'' is a novelization of the life of Grace Marks. Grace, a nineteenth-century Irish immigrant to Canada, is accused and convicted of murdering her employer, Thommas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery; however, due to confusion about the facts of the case and Grace's own mental health, her sentence is commuted to from death by hanging to life in prison. The novel takes place almost a decade after the murders, in the Kingston Penitentiary, where Grace is being interviewed/interrogated by American psychologist Dr. Simon Jordan.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Kind of. Grace Marks was a real person who went to jail for the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, for which her companion James McDermott was hanged. Marks also spent time in a lunatic asylum, where she was seen by Susannah Moodie; she was eventually pardoned and moved to the United States. Beyond that, it's impossible to know how much is true. Moodie's account of Marks's "lunacy" was a sensational one written for the popular press, and primary sources other than Moodie's are sparse and contradictory. Marks herself wrote a confession that was published in several newspapers, but again, these are not consistent (journalistic standards of the time being looser) and was later recanted in any case.

* GrandTheftMe: When Dr. DuPont hypnotizes Grace, she is or pretends to be possessed by the spirit of Mary Whitney. [[spoiler: "Mary" claims that it was she who committed the murders, riding in Grace's body, and Grace is innocent]] - hence the title of the book.