We slept in what had become the gymnasium.
Last edited by OpenLibraryTagsBot
August 29, 2026 | History
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...
--back cover
Previews available in: French Chinese Russian English
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People
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Showing 10 featured editions. View all 175 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
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01
La servante écarlate
2017-07, Pavillons Poche/Robert Laffont
Paperback
in French
2221203321 9782221203323
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使女的故事: The Handmaid's Tale
2017, Tian pei wen hua you xian gong si
in Chinese
9866385949 9789866385940
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The Handmaid's Tale
2003?, Anchor Books
paperback
in English
- First Anchor Books Edition, April 1998 (55)
038549081X 9780385490818
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The Handmaid's Tale
1998-04, Anchor Books
Paperback
in English
- First Anchor Books Edition (9)
038549081X 9780385490818
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09
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10
The Handmaid's Tale
1986, Houghton Mifflin Company
hardcover
in English
- printing (1)
0395404258 9780395404256
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Book Details
First Sentence
"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium."
Table of Contents
Introduction --
Night --
Shopping --
Night --
Waiting room --
Nap --
Household --
Night --
Birth day --
Night --
Soul scrolls --
Night --
Jezebel's --
Night --
Salvaging --
Night --
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Work Description
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the group known as "handmaids", who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "commanders" — the ruling class of men in Gilead.
The novel explores themes of subjugated women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, and the various means by which they resist and attempt to gain individuality and independence.
The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award.
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Links outside Open Library
- The Handmaid's Tale - Wikipedia
- sparknotes.com/lit/handmaid/
- Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale feels real in 2019, but the solution won’t come from novels
- An analysis of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Handmaid's Tale | Plot, Legacy, & Facts | Britannica.com
- VIAF ID: 186154411 (Work)
- thegreatestbooks.org/items/1368
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