Question: How many counties does the largest state in the region where the fictional Gilead in the Handmaid's Tale takes place have?

<P0-S0> black lake is located in cheboygan and presque isle counties in northern michigan, united states. <P0-S1> with a surface area of , it is the seventh largest inland lake in michigan. <P0-S2> the largest body of water in the black river watershed, it drains through the lower black and cheboygan rivers into lake huron. <P0-S3> black lake is a summer destination for many families from the suburban detroit area and from other nearby states as well as residents of the neighboring town of onaway. <SEP> <P1-S0> The states of New England have a combined area of 71,991.8 square miles (186,458 km), making the region slightly larger than the state of Washington and larger than England. <P1-S1> Maine alone constitutes nearly one - half of the total area of New England, yet is only the 39th - largest state, slightly smaller than Indiana. <P1-S2> The remaining states are among the smallest in the U.S., including the smallest state -- Rhode Island. <SEP> <P2-S0> in the near future, fertility rates collapse as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution. <P2-S1> with this chaos in place, the totalitarian, christian theonomic government of ``gilead ''establishes rule in the former united states in the aftermath of a civil war. <P2-S2> society is organized by power - hungry leaders along a new, militarized, hierarchical regime of fanaticism and newly created social classes, in which women are brutally subjugated, and by law are not allowed to work, own property, handle money, or read. <P2-S3> worldwide infertility has resulted in the conscription of the few remaining fertile women in gilead, called handmaids, according to an`` extremist interpretation'' of a biblical account. <P2-S4> they are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite, where they must submit to ritualized rape with their male masters in order to become pregnant and bear children for those men and their wives. <SEP> <P3-S0> The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. <P3-S1> The book was originally published in 1985. <P3-S2> Set in a near - future New England, in a totalitarian, Christian theonomy that has overthrown the United States government. <P3-S3> The novel focuses on the journey of the handmaid Offred. <P3-S4> Her name derives from the possessive form ``of Fred ''; handmaids are forbidden to use their birth names and must echo the male, or master, for whom they serve. <SEP> <P4-S0> This is a list of the sixteen counties in the U.S. state of Maine. <P4-S1> Before statehood, Maine was officially part of the state of Massachusetts and was called the District of Maine. <P4-S2> Maine was granted statehood on March 15, 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise. <P4-S3> Nine of the sixteen counties had their borders defined while Maine was still part of Massachusetts, and hence are older than the state itself. <P4-S4> Even after 1820, the exact location of the northern border of Maine was disputed with Britain, until the question was settled and the northern counties signed their final official form, the Webster - Ashburton Treaty, signed in 1842. <P4-S5> Almost all of Aroostook County was disputed land until the treaty was signed.