We have a 1986 hardcover first U.S. edition of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale in our Dystopian Fiction Collection.
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, published the first U.S. edition of The Handmaid’s Tale in 1986; Jonathan Cape published the first U.K. edition of The Handmaid’s Tale in the same year.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 1985. It is set in a totalitarian future USA "Gilead", where women are entirely under the authority of men. They are unable to read, write, own money or own property. A group of women called handmaids are enslaved to reproduce for women of the elite classes who appear to be infertile. The Handmaid's Tale was nominated for the first-ever Man Booker International Prize which represents the best writers in contemporary fiction.
In 2017, it was made into a major TV series, which has gained enormous popularity and is now in its fourth season. The costumes worn by the handmaids in the series have become a symbol of protest against female oppression across the world.