Locked up at the age of sixteen for the bloody murders of her employer and his housekeeper, Grace Marks was lucky not to have been hung. But the questions remain: innocent or guilty, instigator or innocent dupe? Sixteen years later, Dr Simon Jordan, an expert in amnesia, is given access to Grace, who now spends most of her days as a servant in the home of the prison Governor, befriended by the Governor's wife who believes in her innocence. And so the days and the weeks pass as Simon tries to prise open the memories Grace claims to have lost and reveals a life of love and betrayal, bitter poverty and brutal abuse, drawing the listener in to the rooms of Grace's mind.

Shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize.

Reviews

“Diana Quick works miracles with Atwood’s dream-like prose and a cast of thoroughly unsympathetic nasties.”
Irish Times 30/8/97