— Neustadt International Prize for Literature (2024)
In the totalitarian Republic of Gilead, women’s bodies and freedoms are strictly controlled. Offred, a Handmaid assigned to bear children for the ruling elite, clings to memories of her lost family and the hope of escape. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a chilling dystopian vision that explores power, gender, and resistance, serving as both a warning and a powerful reflection on human resilience.
Date: 1985 (Canada)
Length: ~324 pages (varies by edition)
Cultural impact: ~10.000.000 copies (estimates)
Genre: Science Fiction, Politics & Society
"Just as the world of Orwell's 1984 gripped our imaginations, so will the world of Atwood's handmaid. She has succeeded in finding a voice for her heroine that is direct, artless, utterly convincing" — Joyce Johnson, novelist and critic (The Washington Post)
"An eerily plausible dystopian masterpiece" — Emily St. John Mandel, novelist and author of Station Eleven
"Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit and astute perception" — Houston Chronicle
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