The Handmaid's Tale
Edition: printing (1)
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Published: 1986
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Format: hardcover
Number of pages: 311
ISBN-13: 9780395404256
Copyright date: 1986
Description: The Handmaid's Tale is not only a radical and brilliant departure for Margaret Atwood, it is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men of its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment's calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.
--front flap
Table of contents: label: I
title: Night
pagenum: 1; label: II
title: Shopping
pagenum: 5; label: III
title: Night
pagenum: 35; label: IV
title: Waiting Room
pagenum: 41; label: V
title: Nap
pagenum: 67; label: VI
title: Household
pagenum: 77; label: VII
title: Night
pagenum: 101; label: VIII
title: Birth Day
pagenum: 107; label: IX
title: Night
pagenum: 141; label: X
title: Soul Scrolls
pagenum: 149; label: XI
title: Night
pagenum: 189; label: XII
title: Jezebel's
pagenum: 197; label: XIII
title: Night
pagenum: 257; label: XIV
title: Salvaging
pagenum: 265; label: XV
title: Night
pagenum: 289; title: Historical Notes
pagenum: 297