The Testaments: WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 - Hardcover

Atwood, Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1784742325 ISBN 13: 9781784742324

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2019

Synopsis

** WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 **

** SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER **

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a modern classic. Now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel.

More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.

Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.

As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.

‘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.' Margaret Atwood

‘The literary event of the year.’ Guardian

‘A savage and beautiful novel, and it speaks to us today, all around the world, with particular conviction and power... The bar is set particularly high for Atwood and she soars over it’ Peter Florence, Booker Prize Chair of Judges, Guardian

About this title

Review

"An era-defining masterpiece" (Waterstones.com)

"Thrilling and blistering" (Daily Telegraph)

"An incredible follow-up" (the Sun, *Pick of the Week*)

"Gripping, pacy and beautifully written" (Justine Jordan Guardian)

"Finding hope in a hopeless place, this is everything The Handmaid’s Tale fans wanted and more. Prepare to hold your breath throughout, and to cry real tears at the end. My book of the year" (Kayleigh Dray Stylist)

"The Testaments is Atwood at her best, in its mixture of generosity, insight and control. The prose is adroit, direct, beautifully turned. All over the reading world, the history books are being opened to the next blank page and Atwood’s name is written at the top of it. To read this book is to feel the world turning" (Anne Enright Guardian)

"I gobbled it down... Atwood has an incredible intellectual nimbleness that challenges us constantly and poses the question that lies like a pearl inside the shell of this frighteningly readable novel, "Before you sit in judgement, how would you behave in Gilead?"" (Allison Pearson Sunday Telegraph)

"A cracker: urgent, moving and as tense as any thriller... there's a darkly rebellious humour, ingenious wordplay and, of course, chillingly timely warnings. Atwood is long overdue a Nobel" (Hepzibah Anderson Mail on Sunday)

"At its heart, this gripping novel is a rallying call for action... In Atwood's world, resistance is never futile" (Mernie Gilmore Daily Express)

"The must-read novel of the year -- a perfect gift for bookworms and fans of the TV series" (Sunday Telegraph)

About the Author

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, went back into the bestseller charts with the election of Donald Trump, when the Handmaids became a symbol of resistance against the disempowerment of women, and with the 2017 release of the award-winning Channel 4 TV series. Its sequel, The Testaments, was published in 2019 and was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize.

Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Edition details

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1784742325
• ISBN 13: 9781784742324
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432