The Blind Assassin
- Publisher : Penguin Random House
- Publishing year : January 2001
- Binding : Paperback
- ISBN : 9780385720953
- Imprint : Anchor Books
- Age Group : Adult
- Language : English
- Number of Pages : 522 Pages
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's TaleWINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZEIn The ...
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE
In The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood weaves together strands of gothic suspense, romance, and science fiction into one utterly spellbinding narrative. The novel begins with the mysterious death—a possible suicide—of a young woman named Laura Chase in 1945. Decades later, Laura’s sister Iris recounts her memories of their childhood, and of the dramatic deaths that have punctuated their wealthy, eccentric family’s history. Intertwined with Iris’s account are chapters from the scandalous novel that made Laura famous, in which two illicit lovers amuse each other by spinning a tale of a blind killer on a distant planet. These richly layered stories-within-stories gradually illuminate the secrets that have long haunted the Chase family, coming together in a brilliant and astonishing final twist.
Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein (who would be known to most of the world as Margret Rey) was born in Hamburg on May 16, 1906. Her future husband, Hans Augusto Rey, was born on September 16, 1898, in Hamburg, Germany. He grew up there near the world-famous Hagenbeck Zoo, and developed a lifelong love for animals and drawing. The two met briefly when Margret was a young girl, before she left Hamburg to study art. They were reunited in 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, where Hans was selling bathtubs as part of a family business and Margret was escaping the political climate in Germany. Margret convinced Hans to leave the family business, and soon they were working together on a variety of projects.