when does the handmaid's tale take place
The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel[2] by Canadian author Margaret Atwood.[3][4] The book was originally published in 1985. Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian, Christian theonomy that has overthrown the United States government.[5] The novel is based around the journey of the handmaid Offred, an emphasis on the possessive form "of Fred," as handmaids are forbidden to use their birth names and must echo the male, or master, for whom they serve.