Not to sound ungrateful, but after the success of the Hulu adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, does it really come as a surprise that Margaret Atwood is writing a sequel?
Originally published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale was a standalone story – in fact, Offred’s story was framed as a collection of tapes found by an archaeologist in the far, far future. So it makes sense within that framing device that Margaret Atwood’s next installment, The Testaments, skips over to follow three completely new(?) female characters 15 years after The Handmaid’s Tale ends. (Will we ever find out what happened to Offred? Unlikely. And I’m okay with that.)
From Margaret Atwood herself: “Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.”
Sounds like it could be pretty great, or get so bogged down in world-building the minutia that the compelling power that the original brought gets lost.
We will find out when the book gets released September 10, 2019 by Penguin Random House.
In the meantime, check out some of our canary chatter about the book that started it all:
- Flavors of oppression and the many covers of The Handmaid’s Tale
- Defining Dystopia. Hint: It’s not about love triangles.
- Buddy Read with Tash | The Handmaid’s Tale
Canaries, have you read or watched Handmaid’s Tale?
Are you looking forward to this sequel?
The Book Canaries 
I had to read The Handmaid’s Tale years (and years) ago for school. I couldn’t get into the TV series and am looking forward to the sequel but really hope it follows on from the novel instead of borrowing from the series!