Written by Margaret Atwood
Format: MP3

Written By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated By: Betty Harris
11hr
Description
The Handmaid's Tale is not only a radical and brilliant departure for Margaret Atwood, it is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men of its population. The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment's calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.
fourStar.jpg Timely, breathtaking, compelling story of our country gone mad
(Review of the Unabridged version of The Handmaid’s Tale)
This story could happen today. Women made subservient...wearing "cousins" of the Muslim dress. Women as property. Government by fear. And it all started by some group taking over the computerized national banking/credit system. All that information, frozen. All that money, no longer yours. News cut off. No reading any more. And its all, "Praise be!" done in the name of religious right and might. And its all done for your protection and benefit. If you like chillers, this is a good one. The narrator is superb, making it all the more believable. - Reviewer from City of Brotherly Love