Alias Grace characters

Appears from the start

A convicted murderess serving a life sentence in Kingston Penitentiary for her alleged part in the 1843 killings of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery. Now in her thirties, she works by day as a trusted domestic in the governor's house. Public accounts have alternately made her a calculating temptress and an innocent servant, while her own restrained manner gives little away.

First appears in chapter 4

A young American doctor interested in the emerging study of the mind. Invited to Kingston by reformers seeking Grace's release, he hopes that regular interviews will recover her missing memories of the murders and establish his reputation. He treats Grace as both a patient and an intellectual puzzle.

Appears from the start

Thomas Kinnear's housekeeper and mistress at his Richmond Hill home. Grace first presents her as a well-dressed woman whose death has become inseparable from the public story of the case. The exact nature of their relationship is one of the matters Simon wants Grace to reconstruct.

First appears in chapter 4

A clergyman who leads the committee campaigning to pardon Grace. Convinced that her case reflects a miscarriage of justice, he arranges Simon's interviews and supplies records, theories, and encouragement, though his reforming purpose may shape what he hopes the doctor will find.

First appears in chapter 3

The governor's sociable daughter, who treats Grace with a mixture of friendliness and curiosity while Grace works in the official residence. She is attracted to Simon and helps draw him into the household's social circle.

Also known as Mrs. Humphrey

First appears in chapter 5

Simon's landlady in Kingston, abandoned by a husband whose business has failed. Anxious about money and social exposure, she initially appears frail and dependent. Simon's sympathy for her gradually compromises the boundary between his professional ambitions and private desires.

First appears in chapter 5

A blunt servant in Mrs. Humphrey's house. Suspicious of appearances and attentive to the practical realities Simon overlooks, she supplies him with an unsentimental account of the household's finances and her mistress's circumstances.

First appears in chapter 14

Grace's closest friend during her early service in Toronto. An outspoken and politically minded young maid, Mary teaches the inexperienced Grace how to negotiate domestic work and retain a sense of independence. Her warmth gives Grace the nearest thing to a chosen family.

Also known as Jeremiah the peddler

First appears in chapter 16

An itinerant peddler who visits the Parkinson household where Grace and Mary work. Charming, observant, and difficult to place within ordinary social ranks, he sells household goods and shares rumors while showing a particular interest in Grace.

First appears in chapter 25

A prosperous gentleman and Grace's employer at Richmond Hill. He keeps an unusually informal household and lives openly with his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery, a relationship that attracts local disapproval. His ease and courtesy do not remove the imbalance of power surrounding the servants who depend on him.

First appears in chapter 25

The hired man at Thomas Kinnear's property. Moody, resentful, and quick to quarrel, he dislikes taking orders from Nancy and responds to the household's tensions with threats. Grace is wary of him even when practical circumstances leave them working near one another.

First appears in chapter 27

A neighboring boy who performs chores and deliveries at the Kinnear house. Shy and impressionable, he admires Grace. His observations later matter because apparently small details from servants and visitors become evidence in the murder case.

First appears in chapter 43

A visiting practitioner introduced within the governor's circle as a specialist in neuro-hypnotism. He proposes that placing Grace in a trance may reach memories unavailable during Simon's ordinary interviews, offering a public test of competing explanations for her amnesia.