DISCOVER the BESTSELLING DYSTOPIAN NOVEL behind the AWARD-WINNING TV SERIES Second season now airing on Channel 4 starring Elisabeth Moss The official TV tie-in edition ofThe Handmaids Tale, with a new introduction from Margaret Atwood

I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.

Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford her assigned name, Offred, means of Fred. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.

Masterfully conceived and executed, this haunting vision of the future places Margaret Atwood at the forefront of dystopian fiction.

'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote itno television event has hit such a nerve The Handmaids Taleis more relevant one year after the first season Guardian

'Dont expect to be gripped by a more potent or involving drama this year' Telegraph

Margaret Atwood is Canada's most eminent novelist, poet and critic. Her books includeThe Edible Woman, Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Life Before Man, Bodily Harm, The Handmaid's Tale(winner of both the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction and the Governor-General's Award, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and made in a major film).Cat's Eye(also shortlisted for the Booker Prize)The Robber BrideandAlias Grace. Finally,The Blind Assassinwon the Booker Prize in 2000.

'Compulsively readable' Daily Telegraph