num_pages: 336
description: First published in 1985, The Handmaid's Tale is a novel of such power that the reader is unable to forget its images and its forecast. With more than two million copies in print, it is Margaret Atwood's most popular and compelling novel.Set in the near future, it describes life in what once was the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead. Reacting to social unrest, and a sharply declining birthrate, the new regime has reverted to -- even gone beyond -- the repressive tolerance of the original Puritans. Offred is a Handmaid who may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant because she is only valued as long as her ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now.Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.
language: English
title: The Handmaid's Tale
titlecomplete: The Handmaid's Tale
characters: Offred, Ofglen, Serena Joy, Aunt Lydia, Janine (The Handmaid's Tale), The Commander, Nick (The Handmaid's Tale), Moira
genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Literature, Adult, Classics, Feminism, Novels, Fantasy, Dystopia, Audiobook
ratings_count: 1951937
places: Bangor, Maine, The United States of America, Republic of Gilead
series: The Handmaid’s Tale 
awards: awardedAt: 504950400000
name: Booker Prize, awardedAt: 504950400000
name: Nebula Award
category: Best Novel, awardedAt: 536486400000
name: Locus Award
category: Best SF Novel, awardedAt: 536486400000
name: Arthur C. Clarke Award, awardedAt: 1357027200000
name: Audie Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 504950400000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 536486400000
name: Prometheus Award
category: Best Novel, awardedAt: 788947200000
name: James Tiptree Jr. Award
category: Retrospective, awardedAt: 473414400000
name: Governor General's Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 536486400000
name: SF Chronicle Award
category: Novel, awardedAt: 536486400000
name: Commonwealth Writers' Prize
category: Best Book in Caribbean and Canada, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: CBC Canada Reads, awardedAt: 1325404800000
name: Metų verstinė knyga
publisher: Turtleback Books