What a great read! Atwood does amazing character work here with Grace’s complexities in particular. She’s understandably cold and stoic in many ways even as she still feels deeply and expresses her fears and sadness and regrets in a way that really endear her to the reader. Yet she’s also at times critical and judgmental in a way that makes the narrative all the more engaging. 

The historical setting was also captured with precision. The dialogue never felt anachronistic and the beliefs and attitudes of the characters, particularly in regard to sin and social standard, felt contemporaneous to the times. And even with Grace’s contempt for sex outside of wedlock, Atwood was clearly able to communicate themes of how women in lower classes were always vulnerable to the men around her hem through no fault of their own. Greatly enjoyed.