The Testaments

novel by Atwood

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July 22, 2026

Quick Summary

The Testaments is a sequel to Margaret Atwood's acclaimed dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. Published in 2019, it won the Booker Prize.12

The novel is set approximately 15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale and expands the narrative beyond Offred's perspective. It features three distinct first-person accounts:

Aunt Lydia: An enforcer of Gilead's laws, her testimony reveals her past as a judge and her calculated survival strategy within the regime.1
Agnes: Offred's elder daughter, raised entirely within Gilead, she gradually uncovers the lies underpinning the society.1
Nicole: Offred's younger daughter, smuggled to Canada as an infant, she becomes involved in a covert operation against Gilead.1

These interwoven narratives create a plot that resembles a spy thriller, focusing on destabilizing Gilead from within. Atwood stated that reader inquiries about Gilead's fate and contemporary political developments inspired the sequel.1

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Margaret Atwood
Novels
In 2019 The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, was published to critical acclaim and was a cowinner (with Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other) of the Booker Prize.
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In 2019 The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, was published to critical acclaim and was a cowinner (with Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other) of the Booker Prize.
Read More

The Handmaid’s Tale
Legacy and adaptations
The Testaments, Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, was released in 2019.
Read More
The Testaments, Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, was released in 2019.
Read More