Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Handmaid's Tale  By  cover art

The Handmaid's Tale

By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Claire Danes
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Fiction, 2013

Margaret Atwood's popular dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale explores a broad range of issues relating to power, gender, and religious politics. Multiple Golden Globe award-winner Claire Danes (Romeo and Juliet, The Hours) gives a stirring performance of this classic in speculative fiction, one of the most powerful and widely read novels of our time.

After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all-controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Handmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.

Cover Art by Fred Marcellino. Used with permission of Pippin Properties, Inc.

Explore more titles performed by some of the most celebrated actors in the business in Audible’s Star-Powered Listens collection.
©1985 Margaret Atwood (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Claire Danes sparkles in this performance…Danes’s Offred is complex, and her flashes of intense strength highlight her vulnerability. This is a consuming listen, thanks to Danes’s emotional subtleties.” (AudioFile)

Featured Article: 40+ Inspirational Quotes for When You Need Some Words of Reassurance


When life gets tough or self-doubt strikes, a few words of inspiration can make an incredible difference. And who better to turn to for words of inspiration than gifted authors? In this collection of quotes from noted novelists, poets, and memoirists, you'll find the right words to lift your spirits and keep you shining. From a variety of celebrated authors, these quotes will inspire you to follow your dreams, face your fears, do what's right, and believe in yourself.

What listeners say about The Handmaid's Tale

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27,362
  • 4 Stars
    10,191
  • 3 Stars
    4,052
  • 2 Stars
    1,225
  • 1 Stars
    985
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29,234
  • 4 Stars
    6,764
  • 3 Stars
    2,128
  • 2 Stars
    569
  • 1 Stars
    468
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23,917
  • 4 Stars
    8,908
  • 3 Stars
    3,823
  • 2 Stars
    1,382
  • 1 Stars
    1,110

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn't Stop Listening

Completely fell in love with this book, I played it non stop. It gave me all kinds of feels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story but I wished I read the book.

it was hard to keep track of transitions between past, way past and present. Ending was not as complete as I like.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Handmaids Tale

Beautiful use of prose,but rather boring. I only finished it because once I start a book I finish it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing story!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! It's awesome!

What does Claire Danes bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Claire Danes is awesome! Fantastic reader!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book is rich with emotion and super thought provoking?

Any additional comments?

One of my favs!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Frightening And Lovely

A world so far and so near. our own, just told a few degrees of its axis. And yet also a remarkable meditation on gender, love, and power. A careful description of captivity, enslavement, and choice. Claire Dunes was just right as a narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Must Read in Current ideologically motivated government

The ultimate dystopia for the feminist of today. Puts in question the current inclusion of church in state matters, and how even with good intentions it can have dire consequences. Enforces the notion that willful ignorance can lead to the exploitation by well respected individuals with opportunistic agendas. The book also drives home how the fear of progress in gender, social, racial, and science can be used to maintain the status quo.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The best ever ❤️

Great story for the time we are living in. The language is amazing and entering.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Handmaid's Tale to be better than the print version?

I've read both and enjoyed them both immensely. However, Claire Dane's narration was great. She was apathetic, angry, and tragic with barely a change in her voice. It was well done.

What about Claire Danes’s performance did you like?

I am currently living away from my husband due to our jobs and listening to Claire Danes talk about missing her husband and human touch really resonated with me. It was as if she felt everything I was feeling (except hopefully slightly more dramatic!)

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes!

Any additional comments?

Very interesting content overall and a very terrifying thought with religious zealots from my parts of the world. Very sensationalized, but also relevant. Very highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

saved for a long roadtrip.

this book is amazing, in and of itself, but having it read to me while on an 11 hour road trip really made it an experience. especially since I am currently pregnant. this was fabulous.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A classic read

I wished for different narrators. I am a fan of the HULU series and finally able to hear the book. I am a mother of twins so Audible reads for me these days.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!