The Handmaid's Tale
Published on 19. September 1996
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-09-974091-9 (ISBN)
Description
** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER **
Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon.
Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead. 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.
'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist' Bernadine Evaristo
'Game-changing... gains more significance with each passing year' Dua Lipa
'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it' Guardian
Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon.
Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead. 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.
'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist' Bernadine Evaristo
'Game-changing... gains more significance with each passing year' Dua Lipa
'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it' Guardian
Reviews / Votes
A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist -- Bernadine Evaristo, author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER Compulsively readable * Daily Telegraph * Out of a narrative shadowed by terror, gleam sharp perceptions, brilliant intense images and sardonic wit * Independent * The Handmaid's Tale is both a superlative exercise in science fiction and a profoundly felt moral story -- Angela Carter Moving, vivid and terrifying. I only hope it's not prophetic * The Listener * The images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness...the effect is chilling * Sunday Times * Powerful...admirable -- Robert Irwin * Time Out * It's hard to believe it is 25 years since it was first published, but its freshness, its anger and its disciplined, taut prose have grown more admirable in the intervening years... Atwood's novel was an ingenious enterprise that showed, with out hysteria, the real dangers to women of closing their eyes to patriarchal oppression * Independent on Sunday * Turned 25 this year and...worth re-reading. As you grow, such books grow with you * The Times, Christmas round up * Fiercely political and bleak, yet witting and wise...this novel seems ever more vital in the present day * Observer *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 191 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
228 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-974091-9 (9780099740919)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
04/2024
Vintage Classics
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Margaret Atwood | Elisabeth Moss | Bradley Whitford
The Handmaid's Tale
Audio
05/2019
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Book
05/2017
Vintage Classics
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Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale
The iconic Sunday Times bestseller that inspired the hit TV series
E-Book
05/2012
1st Edition
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Person
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; Old Babes in the Wood, a volume of short stories; and Book of Lives, her memoir.
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.
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.