Handmaid's Tale

** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER **

Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series.

'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it' Guardian

I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.

Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford - her assigned name, Offred, means 'of Fred'. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.

Masterfully conceived and executed, this haunting vision of the future places Margaret Atwood at the forefront of dystopian fiction.

'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist', Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other.

Review: A contemporary classic... the book serves as a chilling reminder of what women have experienced * Independent *
Game-changing... gains more significance with each passing year -- Dua Lipa
A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist -- Bernadine Evaristo
Compulsively readable * Daily Telegraph *
The mother of all feminist dystopian novels * Red *
The novel satirises the strain of evangelical puritanism in American culture and the objectification and control of women's bodies. It is more broadly a contemporary myth of despotic power, and how such power deforms those who are subjected to it * Observer *
The Handmaid's Tale is both a superlative exercise in science fiction and a profoundly felt moral story -- Angela Carter
Out of a narrative shadowed by terror, gleam sharp perceptions, brilliant intense images and sardonic wit -- Peter Kemp * Independent *
Margaret Atwood is a wry and perceptive observer of society as well as an original storyteller * Psychologist *
The images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness...the effect is chilling -- Linda Taylor * Sunday Times *