The Handmaid's Tale (Vintage Classics) and over 2 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Quantity:

Buy New

Buy Used

Used - Good See details

Price: �2.80

Fulfilled by Amazon

More Buying Choices

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Sorry, this item is not available in

Image not available for
Colour:

Image not available

See all 3 customer images

Share your own customer images

Search inside this book

Start reading The Handmaid's Tale (Vintage Classics) on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary Classics) [Paperback]

Margaret Atwood (Author)

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (288 customer reviews)

RRP:	�8.99
Price:	�6.29 & FREE Delivery in the UK on orders over �10. Details
Deal Price:
You Save:	�2.70 (30%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.

Want it tomorrow, 11 April? Details

	Amazon Price		New from	Used from
Kindle Edition	�4.49		--	--
Hardcover	�7.25		--	--
Show # more hardcovers
Show fewer hardcovers
Paperback	�6.29		--	--
Show # more paperbacks
Show fewer paperbacks
MP3 CD, Audiobook	�6.25		--	--
Show # more audio books
Show fewer audio books
Textbook Binding	--		--	--
Audio Download, Unabridged	�19.35	or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can use your mobile to trade in your unwanted books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details or check out the Trade-In Amazon Mobile App Guidelines on how to trade in using a smartphone. Learn more.

› See more product promotions

Book Description

Publication Date: 5 July 1996 | Series: Contemporary Classics

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; }

Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Handmaid's Tale (York Notes Advanced)
Prof Coral Ann Howells

3.9 out of 5 stars (11)

Paperback

�5.59
The Handmaid's Tale [DVD]
Natasha Richardson

3.4 out of 5 stars (23)

DVD

�7.88
The Testament of Jessie Lamb
› Jane Rogers

3.5 out of 5 stars (45)

Paperback

�5.59
Brave New World
› Aldous Huxley

4.2 out of 5 stars (223)

Paperback

�6.29
The Blind Assassin
› Margaret Atwood

4.0 out of 5 stars (111)

Paperback

�6.29
The Edible Woman
› Margaret Atwood

3.5 out of 5 stars (23)

Paperback

�6.99

Product details

Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: Vintage; New Ed edition (5 July 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0099740915
ISBN-13: 978-0099740919
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (288 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #44 in Books > Fiction > Fantasy > Contemporary
- #91 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Margaret Atwood Page

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays.

In addition to the classic The Handmaid's Tale, her novels include Cat's Eye, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy, The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize and Oryx and Crake, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, was published in 2009. She was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature in 2008.

Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto, Canada.

(Photo credit: George Whitside)

Product Description

Review

"The Handmaid's Tale is both a superlative exercise in science fiction and a profoundly felt moral story" (Angela Carter)

"Out of a narrative shadowed by terror, gleam sharp perceptions, brilliant intense images and sardonic wit" (Peter Kemp Independent)

"The images of brilliant emptiness are one of the most striking aspects of this novel about totalitarian blindness...the effect is chilling" (Linda Taylor Sunday Times)

"Powerful...admirable" (Robert Irwin Time Out)

"Fiercely political and bleak, yet witting and wise...this novel seems ever more vital in the present day" (Observer)

Book Description

'Compulsively readable' Daily Telegraph

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

Oryx And Crake by Margaret Atwood Paperback
4.1 out of 5 stars (159)

�6.79

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Paperback
4.6 out of 5 stars (604)

�5.59

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Paperback
4.2 out of 5 stars (223)

�6.29

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer Paperback
4.5 out of 5 stars (614)

�3.85

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars

4.2 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

174 of 183 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Still good 20 years on 3 Sep 2006

By Magpie

Format:Paperback

I still don't know what inspired me to take this book home from the library that day back when I was 16- up until then the only "grown up" literature I had read had been formulaic historical romances of the Catherine Cookson variety.

I can now credit this book with opening the door to a whole different world of books from what I was used to- books that demanded me to THINK.

And, being only 16, and not reading this book as part of my English class but rather just for myself, I was swept away by it.

Then, a couple of years ago, I got hold of a copy and read it again, curious if it would still seem so mind-blowing (I remember re-reading my beloved Narnia stories as an adult and getting the shock of my life).

And I can say that, half a life later, this book remains one of the best books I have ever read. Why?

I am still amazed at the author's imagination. How did she manage to describe the menace of a totalitarian regime so well? Science Fiction often dates quickly, seeming at best naive decades after it was written. And for me, reading this book 20-odd years after it was written, in this older and wiser post-9/11 world, certain aspects of the book took on new meaning (religious fundamental regime, strict rules about women's dress, football stadium executions).

It may not be a perfect book, but I think it is worth reading for its ideas (and warnings). And all that aside, it's a gripping read!

1 Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a feminist polemic ... 22 Jan 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

... it's a rattling good read.
Think about your ability to browse through an internet shop, the power you have to earn money, to hold it and to choose how you spend it. Think about your right to education, should you chose to exercise it. Think about warmth and love and husbands and children.
Imagine all that taken away, the sense of loss, love vanquished, family disappeared, and the comfort of books denied you. Imagine women colluding in oppressing their own sex.
But there is redemption in subversion and small acts of defiance.
It's a clever book, ideas subtly woven, like a fairy tale invoking the dark with the faint promise of light.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully crafted and utterly absorbing narrative 16 Dec 2000

By penny@btinternet.com

Format:Hardcover

A stunning novel which depicts a world all too possible in reaction to today's permissive society. It tells the story of Offred, condemned after a military coup, in which she is forcibly separated from her husband and daughter, to become a handmaid, whose function is to produce a child for an infertile older woman. Atwood's remarkable non-linear narrative technique takes getting used to, the main plot being punctuated by both recent and 'time before' flashbacks, but the story is so absorbing that you quickly get accustomed to the style. The novel is eloquently written with its fascination for the nuances of language; (natural communication is suppressed, a common feature of dystopian fiction.) As time passes, Offred's desire for freedom and determination to resist the regime (a Christian fundamentalist state, closely based on misogynistic Old Testament teachings) increase. We are entirely gripped by her plight and willing her to succeed. Does she? You will need to read the book to find out, but I can promise you, you will not anticipate the very unusual ending.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, it will terrify and move you with each word. 26 April 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book has to be one of the most powerful, terrifying, and insightful books ever written about a very plausible future, where religion and politics win over morality. Margaret Atwood, has shown a deep understanding of the threats that women have faced in the past, and what they may possibly face in the future.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential 16 Jun 2005

By jfp2006

Format:Paperback

Following a Christian fundamentalist coup d'état in New England at some point towards the end of the twentieth century, a Handmaid is one of a tiny minority of fertile women in a society which has been devastated by unspecified environmental catastrophes. Her function is to provide offspring for the ruling elite, and to be sent to her death if she fails. She lives in a nightmare world of public executions, lynchings, propaganda, impregnation ceremonies... "The Handmaid's Tale" is the story of her inner rebellion, and her struggle to retain her sanity and her memories of "the time before".
Margaret Atwood has been at pains to stress that her novel is not "science-fiction", but "speculative fiction". In other words, it is not about little green men arriving from other planets, but about what happens if men from the planet Earth decide to take some of their more extreme ideas to their logical conclusions. The novel was published in the mid 1980s, against the background of the rise to prominence of the religious right during the Reagan years. In the opening years of the twenty-first century, it has lost none of its relevance. Au contraire...
"Whatever is silenced will clamour to be heard, though silently." The novel constantly testifies to the vitality of the human spirit and its ability to survive in extreme adversity. "The Handmaid's Tale" has repeatedly been compared to "1984", but in fact is a much richer and deeper novel. Orwell's story is an important landmark in the novel of ideas, but Atwood, in addition to her ideas, has written a highly wrought poetic story, incorporating intensely moving meditations on love, loss and memory.
"The Handmaid's Tale" is without question one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. It demands to be read again and again and, in reading it, we must hope and hope that it never comes true.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

› See all 288 customer reviews (newest first) on Amazon.co.uk

Write a customer review

Would you like to see more reviews about this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 1,202 reviews 4.1 out of 5 stars

Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm so glad that I finally read this classic mind-opening novel

For years I've heard about this book, but only recently got around to reading it. The voice of Margaret Atwood is forboding, dark and sends a warning to everyone about a... Read more

Published 3 days ago by Lisa Devaney

5.0 out of 5 stars Unusual

A story with a difference that keeps you hooked from page one. Can't really say more than that even though the review wants me to.

Published 6 days ago by Annie

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book

Really good book, I enjoyed it very much and would recommend to readers who enjoy novels about dystopian futures. Definitely makes you think.

Published 6 days ago by Miss Suzanne E Davies

5.0 out of 5 stars Nightmares are best served cold

Atwood's prose is an infinite treat. Her imagination is boundless. Her crafting of characters is rarely matched. Read more

Published 17 days ago by Critic21

4.0 out of 5 stars scary view of a near future

although told in a quite static way without much conversations and dialogues, the books leads you to a world in the future where woman don't have much to say, no to say almost... Read more

Published 26 days ago by laros76

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing

An early Atwood classic. If you like Atwood, which I do. Then you will enjoy. A domestic twist on a utopian world.

Published 1 month ago by ms jojo

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT

REALLY GOOD BOOK THAT IM NOW READING EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ORDERED FOR MY DAUGHTERS ENGLISH LIT STUDIES. ARRIVED IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND VERY QUICKLY.

Published 1 month ago by winitlady

5.0 out of 5 stars The best

I first read this in my very early twenties, and, twenty something years on, it's still one of my favourites novels of all times...and I still find its themes incredibly powerful. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Erudite

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Felt a little bereft after finishing for want of a book to match it. Brilliant character. A bit more 'grown up' dystopian fiction. Read more

Published 2 months ago by KatyDavies

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing

Honestly not just a work of writing but a work of art this is masterpiece. Well thought out and put together, had me wanting more the whole time. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Emily

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }