TORONTO — More than 20 years ago, a precocious teenage girl made a surprising request of the novelist Margaret Atwood. She had just read Ms. Atwood’s “Alias Grace” and found herself entranced by the true story of Grace Marks, a 19th-century Irish immigrant and servant who became a celebrity “murderess” in Toronto. So she sent Ms. Atwood a letter seeking the movie rights.

Ms. Atwood’s correspondent was Sarah Polley, then best known as a Canadian child star from the Disney Channel’s “Road to Avonlea” and years away from becoming a screenwriter and director of independent films like “Away From Her” and “Take This Waltz.” Ms. Atwood declined. Obviously.

“She was 17!” she said. “I didn’t think she had the wherewithal.”

Now, at the age of 38, Ms. Polley is seeing her Hail Mary of a pitch come to fruition: She is the writer and a producer of the mini-series adaptation of the Booker Prize-shortlisted book, debuting on Netflix on Nov. 3.

After decades of sputtering starts — both Jodie Foster and Cate Blanchett were attached at various points — “Alias Grace” arrives at a time of peak Atwood. This September the Hulu adaptation of the novelist’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” became the first streaming-service show to win an Emmy for best drama; the iconic red cloaks the handmaids are forced to wear have become popular costumes for both protesting and Halloweening; her backlist is on best-seller lists; and the 77-year-old author is herself an internet star. (Ms. Atwood has 1.77 million followers on Twitter, and when she carried her black velvet purse on stage at the Emmys, a gotta-be-me violation of unwritten awards-show etiquette, she sent social media into a loving frenzy.)