Years have passed since Grace was locked up, at the age of 16, for the murders of her employer Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper/lover Nancy Montgomery. Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. Should Dr Simon Jordan, an expert on amnesia, wake the part of Grace's mind which lies... read more
The story is about the notorious 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Upper Canada. Two servants of the Kinnear household, Grace Marks and James McDermott, were convicted of the crime. McDermott was hung and Marks was sentenced to life... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
“The reason they want to see me is that I am a celebrated murderess. Or that is what has been written down. When I first saw it I was surprised, because they Celebrated Singer and Celebrated Poetess and Celebrated Spiritualist and Celebrated Actress, but what is there to celebrate about murder All the same, murderess is a strong word to have attached to you. It has a smell to it, that word—musky and oppressive…”Grace Marks
“One poor Irishwoman had all her family dead, half of them of starving in the great famine and the other half of the cholera on the boat coming over; and she would wander about calling their names… Another woman had killed her child, and it followed her around everywhere, tugging at her skirt, and sometimes she would pick it up and hug and kiss it... I was afraid of this one.”Grace Marks
“For the widely held view that women are weak-spined and jelly-like by nature, and would slump to the floor like melted cheese if not roped in, he has nothing but contempt. While a medical student, he dissected a good many women—from the laboring classes, naturally—and their spines and musculature were on the average no feebler than those of men, although many suffered from rickets.”Simon Jordan
“It was knowledge <women> craved; yet they could not admit to craving it, because it was forbidden knowledge—knowledge with a lurid glare to it; knowledge gained through a descent into the pit. He had been where they could never go, seen what they never see; he has opened up women’s bodies and peered inside. In his hand, which has just raised their own hands towards his lips, he may once have held a beating female heart.”
“"For it is not always the one that strikes the blow that is the actual murderer."”Grace
“We make everything we wear or use here, awake or asleep; so I have made this bed and now I am lying in it.”Grace
“I suppose she was melancholy for as I have noticed, those who are depressed in spirits are more likely to consider bad omens.”Grace
“They are hypocrites, they think the church is a cage to keep God in, so he will stay locked up there and not go wandering about the earth during the week, poking his nose into their business, and looking into the depths and darkness and doubleness of their hearts, and their lack of true charity; and they believe they need only be bothered about him on Sundays when they have their best clothes on and their faces straight, and their hands washed and their gloves on, and their stories all prepared.”Grace
“But God is everywhere, and cannot be caged in, as men can.”
“Just because a thing has been written down, Sir, does not mean it is God's truth, I say.”Grace
“It was raining, and a huge crowd standing in the mud, some of them come from miles away. If my own death sentence had not been commuted at the last minute, they would have watched me hang with the same greedy preasure. There were many women and ladies there; everyone wanted to stare, they wanted to breathe death in like fine perfume, and when I read of it I thought, If this is a lesson to me, what is it I am supposed to be learning?”Grace
“It's true that the American public is unduly impressed by such notions -- they favour cures that can be had by pulling a lever or pressing a button -- but Simon has no belief in their efficacy.”
“I am afraid he was very much indulged, not least by himself. For if the world treats you well, Sir, you come to believe you are deserving of it.”Grace
“A faithless preacher with a good manner and voice will always convert more than a limp-handed long-face fool, no matter how Godly. Then he struck a solemn pose, and intoned, Those strong in the faith know, that in the Lord's hands even the infirm vessel is put to right use.”Jeremiah
“I said, wouldn't that be a deception and a cheat? And Jeremiah said, no more than at the theatre. For if people wish to believe a thing, and long for it and depend on it to be true, and feel the better for it, is it cheating to help them to their own belief, by such an insubstantial thing as a name? Is it not rather a charity, and a human kindness? And when he put the thing that way, it had a better light on it.”
“Everyone knows you'll lose, because there's no doubt as to their guilt; but it will be the style in which you lose that will count. There is graceless losing, and there is elegant losing. Let us see you lose as elegantly as possible.”Mr. Mackenzie, the lawyer, quoting old Bradley
“I have little enough of my own, no belongings, no possesions, no privacy to speak of, and I need to keep something for myself; and in any case, what use would he have for my deams after all?”Grace
“Her strongest prison is her own construction.”
“A cheap whore is cheap not because she is ugly or old, but because she is a bad actress.”Simon
I. Jagged Edge
II. Rocky Road
III. Puss In The Corner
IV. Young Man's Fancy
V. Broken Dishes
VI. Secret Drawer
VII. Snake Fence
VIII. Fox and Geese
IX. Hearts and Gizzards
X. Lady of the Lake
XI. Falling Timbers
XII. Solomon's Temple
XIII. Pandora's Box
XIV. The Letter X
XV. The Tree of Paradise
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