Margaret Atwood is currently writing a sequel to her best-selling dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” it was announced Wednesday.
Due out in September 2019 from publishers Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, “The Testaments” is set 15 years after Offred’s final scene in the original book and will be narrated by three female characters, Atwood tweeted.
The new novel was inspired by readers’ questions about the fictional world of Gilead and by the “world we’ve been living in,” the Canadian author said.
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
A hit when it was published in 1985, “The Handmaid’s Tale” took on new meaning after Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, with his vision of America often being compared to the imagined land of Gilead.
The novel has since been adapted into an award-winning TV series on Hulu starring Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes and Yvonne Strahovski.
The second season, which diverted from Atwood’s original novel, concluded in July and the drama is due to return for a third.
Since it premiered in April 2017, “A Handmaid’s Tale” was won multiple awards, including eight Primetime Emmys after Season 1 and a Best Actress Golden Globe award for Moss.
Atwood’s most recent books include dark dystopian “The Heart Goes Last,” published in 2015, and “Hag-Seed,” a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”