- Published: 15 May 2012
- ISBN: 9781446485477
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 336
The Handmaid's Tale
NOW A SMASH-HIT CHANNEL 4 TV SERIES
DISCOVER the BESTSELLING DYSTOPIAN NOVEL behind the AWARD-WINNING TV SERIES Third season now airing on Channel 4 starring Elisabeth MossThe official TV tie-in edition of The Handmaid’s Tale, with a new introduction from Margaret Atwood‘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.
'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it…no television event has hit such a nerve …’ – Guardian
'Don’t expect to be gripped by a more potent or involving drama this year' – Telegraph
- Published: 15 May 2012
- ISBN: 9781446485477
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 336
Compulsively readable
Daily Telegraph
A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist
Bernadine Evaristo, author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER
The mother of all feminist dystopian novels.
Sarra Manning, 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.
Tim Adams, Observer
One of Atwood’s finest pieces of work serves as a great reminder of what humanity is capable of.
Hannah Dunn, Red
One of Atwood’s finest pieces of work serves as a great reminder of what humanity is capable of.
Hannah Dunn, Red
Margaret Atwood is a wry and perceptive observer of society as well as an original storyteller
Cecilia Heyes, Psychologist
Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit and astute perception
Essence
This is a novel pervaded by violence, sex, terror, but also by contemplation, analysis and – occasionally – by hope… Atwood shockingly reveals what we could be capable of.
Elly McCausland, Cherwell Newspaper
Elisabeth Moss, star of the hit TV show The Handmaid’s Tale, has narrated the audiobook edition of Margaret Atwood’s classic novel.
