Summary
The Testaments is Margaret Atwood's highly anticipated sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, released in 2019 to critical acclaim. Set 15 years after its predecessor, this work of dystopian fiction returns to the world of Gilead to offer a gripping exploration of power, resistance, and the resilience of the human spirit. Narrated by three distinct voices, including the notorious Aunt Lydia, The Testaments provides a multifaceted view of life in an oppressive regime from women separated by age and social status. Weaving together themes of survival, complicity, and the fight for freedom, the novel delves deeper into the inner workings of this theocratic society while answering long-standing questions that have intrigued fans since the original publication of The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985.
An instant bestseller, The Testaments won the prestigious Booker Prize. The novel’s release also reignited real-world discussions about women's rights and the dangers of authoritarianism in the contemporary United States. The success of The Handmaid's Tale series on Hulu, which premiered in 2017, undoubtedly contributed to the anticipation surrounding The Testaments. Plans are already underway to adapt this sequel for the small screen.
Plot
Opening 15 years after the end of The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments follows three narrators whose lives intertwine in the oppressive Republic of Gilead. Aunt Lydia, a powerful figure within the regime, secretly works as a mole for the resistance movement Mayday. She records her experiences in a manuscript that becomes known as the Ardua Hall Holograph.
Agnes Jemima, raised as the daughter of a high-ranking Commander, discovers she is actually the child of a Handmaid. To avoid an arranged marriage, she becomes a Supplicant training to be an Aunt. Meanwhile, in Canada, a teenage girl named Daisy learns she is really Baby Nicole, who was smuggled out of Gilead as an infant. Mayday recruits her for a dangerous mission to infiltrate Gilead and make contact with their mole.
Aunt Lydia brings Agnes and Nicole together at Ardua Hall, revealing their true identities and shared parentage. She enlists them in a plot to smuggle incriminating information about Gilead's leadership to Canada. Agnes and Nicole pose as missionaries, known as Pearl Girls, to escape, while their friend Becka stays behind as a decoy. After a perilous journey, the young women reach Canada with the vital intelligence.
