The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

If you are a fan of The Handmaid's Tale on TV, but are afraid to read a book by Margaret Atwood, I encourage you to give The Testaments a try! The Testaments is the long awaited and much anticipated sequel to The Handmaid's Tale that reads more like pop fiction novel than a traditional Margaret Atwood book.

The Testaments takes place approximately 15-16 years later than The Handmaid's Tale. The reader sees what the world now looks like through the testimony of three female narrators: Aunt Lydia (yes, that Aunt Lydia), Witness 369A, and Witness 369B. Aunt Lydia reveals that Gilead's citizens are more power-hungry and corrupt than ever. Trust is a rarity, and Aunt Lydia says to "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Having no friends, I must make do with enemies." Witness 369A tells the reader about her life growing up as the daughter of a Commander in Gilead. Witness 369B lives in Canada, and gives the reader her perspective as an outsider of Gilead, looking in. I can't give you any more details about the narrators than that without spoiling the many twists, turns, shocks and surprises you will encounter as you read the book.

I've been waiting for this sequel for so long that I really wanted to take my time reading it. However, my copy must have contained chocolate because it kept calling me to come back to it, and I ended up reading it within a day. I found myself totally engaged with the narrators and each new morsel of information they revealed made it that much harder for me to put down.

I recently attended a "Margaret Atwood: Live in Cinemas" event that was presented onscreen at a local Cineplex. Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia on The Handmaid's Tale TV series, read two excerpts from Aunt Lydia's narrative in The Testaments. Two other readers each read an excerpt from Witness 369A and 369B. Atwood was also interviewed, and she was asked was what made her decide to finally write a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale after 34 years? Her answer? When Trump got elected as President of the United States. She was also asked what she thought was the most important issue facing the world today. Without hesitation she said our planet, and she feels if we focus on healing and protecting our planet, our other issues will fall into place.