The 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.

Margaret Atwood (Author) Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic The Handmaid's Tale was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and shared the Booker Prize. Her most recent publications are the poetry collections Dearly and Paper Boat; Burning Questions, a selection of essays; and Old Babes in the Wood, a volume of short stories. Atwood is a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada. Naomi Alderman (Introducer) Naomi Alderman is an award-winning novelist, TV producer and videogames creator. She is the author of the bestselling The Power (Penguin Books 2017), winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction and since adapted for TV by Amazon Prime. Her other books include The Future (2023), The Liars' Gospel (2013), The Lessons (2010) and Disobedience (2006) and the forthcoming non-fiction book about the information crisis: Don't Burn Anyone At The Stake Today. She is the co-creator of the fitness game and audio adventure Zombies, Run! which has more than 10 million players. Naomi writes and presents Human Intelligence, the history of thinkers from Socrates to Mary Wollstonecraft to Malcolm X on BBC Radio 4. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.