Content report card
The Handmaid's Tale parent’s guide: what’s inside
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
The Handmaid's Tale is a literary classic and sophisticated dystopian novel designed for mature readers. It contains graphic depictions of systemic violence, sexual coercion, and authoritarian control over women's bodies, along with heavy exploration of trauma, loss of agency, and psychological manipulation. While it offers significant educational value and positive messages about resistance and human dignity, the content is explicitly adult-oriented and not appropriate for younger teens.
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From the publisher
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a wom... The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the group known as "handmaids", who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "commanders" — the ruling class of men in Gilead. The novel explores themes of subjugated women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, and the various means by which they resist and attempt to gain individuality and independence. The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. ---------- Also contained in: Novels
Shelved under
- brothels
- Canadian authors
- Canadian fantasy fiction
- Canadian fiction (fictional works by one author)
- Christian fundamentalism
- Dystopian fiction
- Dystopias
- fantasy fiction
- Fiction
- Fiction, dystopian
- Fiction, fantasy, general
- handmaids
Books in The Handmaid's Tale
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ISBN 9780385490818 · Anchor Books