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The Handmaid's Tale

The iconic Sunday Times bestseller that inspired the hit TV series

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The Handmaid's Tale

By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Amy Landecker, Ann Dowd, Bradley Whitford, Elisabeth Moss
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Shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year at the British Book Awards 2020.

Winner of Best Audiobook (Fiction) at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020.

Read by Elisabeth Moss, star of the hit Channel 4 TV series.

** 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

‘As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it’ Guardian

©2011 O W Toad Ltd (P)2019 Penguin Audio

 Classics Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Women's Voices World Literature
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Critic Reviews

A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist (Bernadine Evaristo, author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER)
Compulsively readable
Out of a narrative shadowed by terror, gleam sharp perceptions, brilliant intense images and sardonic wit
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 images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness...the effect is chilling
Powerful...admirable (Robert Irwin)
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
Turned 25 this year and...worth re-reading. As you grow, such books grow with you
Fiercely political and bleak, yet witting and wise...this novel seems ever more vital in the present day
All stars
Most relevant
Loved listening to this story being read. I couldn't get into the tv series with the same abandon! Extraordinary insight into human nature which, I believe, does not change across eras.

Gripping from the first chapter

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Loved this audiobook. Great story, and to be ready by the actor who plays Offred in the TV series is just the cherry on top. Can't wait to start the next book!

Loved!!

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Great novel that doesn't bare spoiling.

Made even better by the fantastic performance of Ann Dowd.

A Modern 1984

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Thought provoking, disturbing intriguing captivating
Strong story leaves you stunned in question and asking questions

Wow

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Have watched the show off and on but love the way the book has expanded my view of Offred and managed to somehow have been covered over 3 seasons. Twists and turns that seem out of place In the book but aren’t as the book is the beginning. Love it.

Loved it.

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