The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

In this seminal work of speculative fiction,  the Booker Prize-winning author asks: In the world of the near future, who will control women’s bodies? Soon to be a10-episode TV series produced by MGM Television, starring  Elizabeth Moss (Madmen), Samira Wiley (Orange is the New Black),  Joseph Fiennes, and Max Minghella

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…. Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, andliterary tour de force.