Blessed day! Penguin has announced the upcoming release of a new novel by Margaret Atwood. The book is a sequel and, entitled The Testaments, will be set fifteen years after the closing scene of The Handmaid’s Tale. Instead of the one narrator, The Testaments will be narrated by three female characters.
This news follows the success of the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, the second season of which has already been released. Atwood’s timing is far from coincidental, too, with the writer claiming to have been inspired by the ‘world we’ve been living in’, in particular modern America.
Atwood confirmed the news on twitter saying: ‘Yes indeed to those who asked: I’m writing a sequel to The #HandmaidsTale.’
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
Addressing her readers, the writer also said: ‘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.’
The Testaments will be published worldwide on 10 September 2019.
Check out this short clip of Margaret Atwood and Elisabeth Moss (star of the TV adaptation) discussing the relevance of The Handmaid’s Tale today:
