Question: is the handmaid's tale set in the future

Answer: Yes, The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, originally published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian religious state, resembling Christian theonomy, that has overthrown the United States government. The novel focuses on the journey of the handmaid Offred. Her name derives from the possessive form ``of Fred''; handmaids are forbidden to use their birth names and must echo the male, or master, whom they serve.