Sequel to ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ is set
It seems these are good times for dystopian novels.
Margaret Atwood has announced that she is writing a sequel to her very popular and influential novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
“The Testaments” will be released on Sept. 10, said its publisher, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday.
“Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book,” the Canadian author said in a statement. “Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.”
The publisher didn’t provide any details about the book beyond saying that it takes place 15 years after the final scene of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and that it is narrated by three female characters.
“I have published Margaret Atwood’s work since 1976 — her poetry, fiction and nonfiction,” said Nan A. Talese. “A manuscript from her is always a reason for joy. She writes wonderfully and has a mind like a steel trap. This new book is no exception.” The novel will have a firstprint run of 500,000 copies, the publisher said.
Eight million copies of “The Handmaid’s Tale” have been sold since it was first published in Canada in 1985. It came out in the United States a year later.
In her 1986 review of the book for The Chronicle, Barbara Tritel wrote that the novel “deserves the highest praise,” adding, “The author’s greatest coup here is that she has managed to write a book of tremendous political relevance without compromising its literary integrity — without being reductive, or dogmatic, or unimaginative.”
The popularity of “The Handmaid’s Tale” has experienced a resurgence thanks to its TV adaptation on Hulu; a third season is now in production.
The novel’s handmaids — women who wear red dresses to indicate their fertility in the totalitarian state of Gilead — have become a global symbol of women’s rights during President Trump’s administration.
“‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ has remained in print since its publication 33 years ago, due to both Margaret Atwood’s brilliant storytelling and the novel’s prescient themes,” said Sonny Mehta, editor in chief and chairman of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday said “The Testaments” is not connected to the TV adaptation.