num_pages: 536
description: Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." These words are spoken by Iris Chase Griffen, married at eighteen to a wealthy industrialist but now poor and eighty-two. Iris recalls her far from exemplary life, and the events leading up to her sister' s death, gradually revealing the carefully guarded Chase family secrets. Among these is " The Blind Assassin, " a novel that earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following. Sexually explicit for its time, it was a pulp fantasy improvised by two unnamed lovers who meet secretly in rented rooms and seedy cafe s. As this novel-within-a-novel twists and turns through love and jealousy, self-sacrifice and betrayal, so does the real narrative, as both move closer to war and catastrophe. Margaret Atwood' s Booker Prize-winning sensation combines elements of gothic drama, romantic suspense, and science fiction fantasy in a spellbinding tale.
language: English
title: The Blind Assassin
titlecomplete: The Blind Assassin
characters: Iris Chase, Winifred Prior, Reenie, Richard Griffen, Norval Chase, Myra Sturgess, Laura Chase, Alex Thomas
genres: Fiction, Historical, Science Fiction, Mystery, Canada, Literature, Classics, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 152895
places: Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Port Ticonderoga, Canada
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Booker Prize, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Shortlist, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Hammett Prize, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Puddly Award
category: New Novel, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Dublin Literary Award
category: Shortlist
publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd