Author> Margaret Atwood
Some people might argue that this follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale is unnecessary. I disagree. It’s been 35 years since The Handmaid’s Tale took the world by storm. The ending left readers with many questions. What happened to June? How did Gilead fall? In The Testaments, Atwood seeks to answer many of these questions and enables the reader to delve deeper into the darkness of Gilead. Set fifteen years after the original, it is told from three points of view. Here is where Atwood really shines, giving each of them very distinctive voices. Inside Gilead, there’s stoic and experienced Aunt Lydia and pious Agnes; in Canada, the free-spirit Daisy. With characters from a range of backgrounds, the stories vividly portray a society gone completely wrong and how the cruelty against women has affected the inhabitants of Gilead. As it progresses, the paths of the three come together as a plot to weaken Gilead starts to manifest. It is dark, relevant and it moves along at a fast pace which will have you turning the pages way into the night. The Handmaid’s Tale is undoubtedly the best out of the two and yet The Testaments is still as gripping and terrifying a read as the latter.
> Naomi Round
The Testaments
