The Testaments
Fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the stories of three women converge to illuminate the inner workings of the theocratic republic of Gilead and the forces working to bring it down.
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What you might want to know about The Testaments
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Fifteen years after The Handmaid's Tale, the Republic of Gilead is showing cracks. Aunt Lydia is writing a hidden manuscript at the Ardua Hall library, the Gilead-born teenager Agnes is being prepared for a Commander's marriage, and a Toronto teenager named Daisy learns who her parents are.
Yes. The Testaments (2019) is Margaret Atwood's direct sequel to The Handmaid's Tale (1985), set 15 years after the original. The novel uses three narrators including Aunt Lydia.
Yes. The Testaments co-won the 2019 Booker Prize, sharing the award with Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other. It was Margaret Atwood's second Booker win, after The Blind Assassin in 2000.
The Testaments was written by Margaret Atwood, published in 2019 by Anchor.
The Testaments is 350 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Testaments takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
The Testaments is a standalone novel by Margaret Atwood, not part of a series.
The Testaments is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
