The novel is based on the life of Grace Marks who, together with James McDermott, was found guilty of murdering their employer, Thomas Kinnear. Kinnear’s housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, was also murdered, but since Marks and McDermott had already been found guilty of the murder of Kinnear it was decided a second trial was not necessary.

Although based on these events, and the acknowledgements show that much research went into it, the book is a work of fiction, so it is probably best to take the historical events as the author’s starting point and leave it at that. Much of the book consists of reminiscences by Grace herself, for which there is little historical evidence.

Although Marks and McDermott were both sentenced to death, Marks’ sentence was commuted, in part due to her youth – she was only sixteen at the time of the trial. It also seems that she could not remember much of what took place at the time, which some found suspiciously convenient, though others believed her and felt it might be possible to recover her memory of the events. One of these, Dr Simon Jordan, tries to achieve this through a series of interviews with Grace, starting with her childhood in Ireland and progressing to the present. His main technique is to ask questions and note the answers. Another is to bring an object, place it on the table, and ask Grace what it calls to mind. He is given to producing vegetables for this purpose, for example, a parsnip. Maybe if Dr Jordan had lived at a later date and changed his name to Rorschach . . .

It is through these interviews that most of Grace’s recollections are captured, and in her own voice, which is the most important factor in the success of this novel. From the outset Grace reveals an ability to deal with the practicalities of life, and does so in considerable detail. Atwood contrasts this with Dr Jordan’s inability in this direction, which comes out when his landlady is deserted by her husband and he has to fend for himself.

Grace gives us the low-down on what work as a family servant was like, and she has a keen eye for detail, including the personalities of others. Just as important is the way she expresses herself. There is aesthetic pleasure to be had in the prose of this book which might remind us what we are missing in so many other titles. The one caveat here is that Grace is a historical figure. It is easier for a writer to attribute elegant expression to a figure from the past than someone from the present who has deserted letters for e-mails or communicates by thumb via a smart-phone. But the author must still be capable of writing well, and Atwood excels in this book.

So is it perfect? I felt there was too much machinery, especially at the start – extracts from newspapers, a ballad written at the time, and so on. And there is one scene which perplexed me. The peddler Jeremiah, whom she has known since she was sixteen, tries to succeed where Dr Jordan has failed. His route to Grace’s buried memories is hypnosis, though he is now operating under another name entirely. But as the Reverend Verringer notes at the time, it seems that Grace can see in the dark, and that is just one puzzling feature of what Grace has to say under hypnosis. There is a suggestion that she may be exhibiting what we now know as multiple personality, and the other personality expressing herself through hypnosis seems to be Mary Whitney. Mary was the best friend Grace ever had, but died as a result of an abortion.

Some may feel that this book has a feminist tendency, but to me it just seems accurate, making reasonable points very well. I particularly liked Grace’s explanation at the end of the book as to why she changed a traditional quilt pattern concerning the story of the Garden of Eden. She improves on the story somewhat, regarding her version as more true to life as she has known it. She reasons that though God came up with the story, men wrote it down and may not have got it entirely right. Here is a woman with a mind of her own. Grace is a fully realised and very interesting character, as Margaret Atwood must be to have brought her so fully to life.