Welcome to the Republic of Gilead—a society ruled by a strict caste system, with power concentrated in the hands of a radical religious group. Its ranks consist only of men, because women in this world have no rights. They can’t study, read, communicate, move freely along the streets, or own property. Their value lies in serving their guardian and producing offspring.
The reason is that due to an unfavorable ecological situation, only one out of a hundred women is capable of childbirth. When such a woman is found in Gilead, she is sent to a special camp, where she is prepared to become a surrogate mother for a child of a high-ranking man.
Offred the servant—named after her guardian Fred—is one of the few “lucky ones.” And she will have to carry the child for the Commander's infertile wife…
The intellectual anti-utopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” by the well-known Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, first published in 1985, became an international bestseller and a true cult classic. In 2017, the TV channel Hulu released an adaptation of the same name in the form of a series, which had huge success.