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The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood · 1985 · Novel

Setting: 1985

Series: The Handmaid's Tale — #1

Synopsis

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the group known as "handmaids", who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "commanders" — the ruling class of men in Gilead. The novel explores themes of subjugated women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, and the various means by which they resist and attempt to gain individuality and independence.

Ideas Explored

Metadata

Source: OpenLibrary

Tags: brothelsCanadian authorsCanadian fantasy fictionCanadian fiction (fictional works by one author)Christian fundamentalismDystopian fictionDystopiasfantasy fictionFictionFiction, dystopian

isfdb_id: 1816

openlibrary_id: OL675783W

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