Margaret Atwood has revealed that she is writing a sequel to her 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, called The Testaments.
The follow-up to the Canadian author’s seminal dystopian tale will be released in September 2019.
Announcing the news on Twitter today (November 27), Atwood wrote: “Yes indeed to those who asked: I’m writing a sequel to The #HandmaidsTale. #TheTestaments is set 15 years after Offred’s final scene and is narrated by three female characters”.
Yes indeed to those who asked: I’m writing a sequel to The #HandmaidsTale. #TheTestaments is set 15 years after Offred’s final scene and is narrated by three female characters. It will be published in Sept 2019. More details: https://t.co/e1umh5FwpX pic.twitter.com/pePp0zpuif
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 28, 2018
The Testaments is set 15 years after the conclusion of The Handmaid’s Tale. In a statement, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday confirmed that the new story is narrated by three women.
Atwood’s imagining of a misogynist society in the 1985 novel has been said to draw parallels with the era of a certain pussy-grabbing US president. As The Washington Post notes, Atwood has won a new legion of fans since Donald Trump’s election, as well as since the award-winning TV adaptation of the novel.
The Testaments is published on September 10, 2019.
The Handmaid’s Tale has sold 8 million copies in English since it was first published in 1985.
