The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - 1985

VERY GOOD condition — DUST JACKET: Wear & tear to top and bottom edges of spine, panels, folds and flaps. Minor chipping to top and bottom of spine and corresponding corners. One inch vertical closed tear along right side of spine, branching towards middle of same. Old tape repairs on reverse of spine. Minor chipping to 3 of 4 outside corners. Several closed tears along top edge, both panels and front flap. BOARDS: Shelf rubbing to crown and foot of spine and bottom edge, primarily quarter-bound. BOOK: Ink markings top of FEP; abrasion to top of FFEP (sticker removed). Please inspect photos closely for condition details.

Here on offer is a very nice copy of Margaret Atwood's award-winning novel, The Handmaid's Tale, a futuristic dystopian saga; the basis for the 2017 Hulu television series of the same name. This copy is a 1st Canadian edition, 1st printing of the work published by McClelland and Stewart in 1985. The original dust jacket is protected from further wear by a Mylar sleeve.

*********************************************************

"The Handmaid's Tale is not only a radical and brilliant departure for Margaret Atwood, it is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its world, with bizarre consequences for the women and men of its population.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment's calm façade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid's Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Margaret Eleanor Atwood CC OOnt CH FRSC FRSL (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published eighteen books of poetry, eighteen novels, eleven books of non-fiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children's books, two graphic novels, and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Governor General's Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, Princess of Asturias Awards, and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards. A number of her works have been adapted for film and television.

Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics". Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early age.

Atwood is a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writers' Trust of Canada. She is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto. She is the inventor of the LongPen device and associated technologies that facilitate remote robotic writing of documents.

The above text was taken from, respectively, Cape publishing (via Google Books) and Wikipedia.