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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. Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon before you read the 2019 Booker Prize-winning sequel The Testaments.

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.

'«The Handmaid's Tale» is both a superlative exercise in science fiction and a profoundly felt moral story' – Angela Carter

'A taut thriller, a psychological study, a play on words... A rich and complex book' – New York Times

'The images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness... the effect is chilling' – Sunday Times

'Compulsively readable' – Daily Telegraph