by Margaret Atwood (Author)

Now a Hulu Original Series

The Handmaid's Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. 

The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

Review

"The Handmaid's Tale deserves the highest praise." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Atwood takes many trends which exist today and stretches them to their logical and chilling conclusions . . . An excellent novel about the directions our lives are taking . . . Read it while it's still allowed." —Houston Chronicle

"Splendid." —Newsweek

“Moving, vivid and terrifying. I only hope it is not prophetic.” –Conor Cruise O’Brien

“A novel that brilliantly illuminates some of the darker interconnections of politics and sex.…Satisfying, disturbing and compelling.” –Washington Post

“The most poetically satisfying and intense of all Atwood’s novels.” –Maclean’s

“It deserves an honored place on the small shelf of cautionary tales that have entered modern folklore – a place next to, and by no means inferior to, Brave New World and 1984.” –Publishers Weekly

“In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood has written the most chilling cautionary novel of the century.” –Phoenix Gazette

Categories : Dystopian Science Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003JFJHTS

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco (February 17, 1986)

Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 17, 1986

Language ‏ : ‎ English

File‏ : ‎EPUB, 1.98 MB

Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported

Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages