The Handmaid's Tale

Published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale rocketed Margaret Atwood to global literary success. For forty years it has been animatedly discussed, ea-gerly adapted (into two feature films, an award-winning televisión series, a graphic novel, a ballet, and an opera), and occa-sionally banned. Yet, without doubt, this haunting meditation on power and its abuses remains more terrifyingly relevant than ever. The novel opens as environmental di-sasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The re-sult is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remain-ing fertile women. Offred is one of these, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gilead’s commanders. Deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom, and even her own ñame, Offred clings to her memories and her will to survive. At once a scathing satire, an ominous warn-ing, and a tour de forcé of narrative suspense, an immediate bestseller around the world and now a cultural phenomenon, The Handmaid’s Tale has rightfully taken its place in the canon of modern classics. This stunning anniversary edition in-cludes a previously unpublished essay entitled “The Handmaid’s Tale Before and After,” penned by Atwood in 1986 and reproduced here in its original form.