The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Published : September 1st 2020

Publisher : Vintage

Format : Kindle, Audio, Hardback, Paperback

Genre : Dystopian

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Synopsis

The Republic of Gilead is beginning to rot from within.

At this crucial moment, two girls with radically different experiences of the regime come face to face with the legendary, ruthless Aunt Lydia. But how far will each go for what she believes?

My Review

This story picks up sixteen years after the end of The Handmaids Tale and you read three different narratives through out. Witness 369A is a girl who grew up within Gilead, Witness 369B is a girl who grew up outside Gilead in Canada and the third is the Testament from Aunt Lydia.

My emotions were crazy throughout this entire book. my main emotion though was anger when you read how Aunt Lydia became who she is and how she got there in the beginning, it also took me by surprise as I did not ever think I would feel anything but disgust towards her but this book shines a whole new light onto what is actually going on behind the doors within Gilead and that on the outside the men hold all the power but really the women are just as powerful but they hide it from plain sight.

Agnes has grown up with her mother, Tabitha and her Father in Gilead, she is highly respected at school because of her fathers position and the fact that they have three Marthas to cook and clean. Agnes is happy and content until her mother starts to become ill and then dies, this is how Agnes finds out that her mother in fact wasn't her real mother through some girls at school and that she was taken as a child from a handmaid who tried to escape. This is where it all starts to go wrong for Agnes, it isn't long before a new wife is brought in and she is attempting to marry Agnes off to get her out off the house.

To avoid being married off to an old commander, Agnes says that she has had a calling and that she wants to become an Aunt so she is sent off to Ardua Hall alongside her friend Becka to train and learn the ways of being an Aunt.

Jade lives in Canada with her two parents who run a charity clothes shop. She believes her parents to be quite over protective so instead of being allowed out she helps out at the shop. Jade is fascinated with the Pearl Girls who regularly come into the shop to hand out leaflets and to try and entice girls to convert with them and make a life in Gilead, when there is a opportunity with the school to go to a protest for Baby Nicole and against Gilead and there ways Jade wants to go but her parents forbid it. She goes anyway and this sets off a series of events that will change Jades life, Agnes's life and Gilead's future for good.

Why I Loved It

I don't want to say any more without risk of ruining any surprises that will come from reading the book yourself, what I can guarantee is this is a truly epic ending to a very thought provoking story. If you haven't seen the first series of The Handmaids Tale (the book ends at the end of series one) or read the book then I highly recommend you do so before you read The Testaments as this will give you a much better understanding as to what you are reading. I absolutely loved these characters and I am in awe of how Margaret Atwood has managed to not only make you rage on the inside, feel fear for women on the run but at the same time leave you exhilarated with the ending. This is dystopian at its best, Powerful, gripping and insanely intense, you won't see the twists and turns coming.

Rating

★★★★★

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Meet the author

Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939.

She is Canada's most eminent novelist and poet, and also writes short stories, critical studies, screenplays, radio scripts and books for children; her works have been translated into over 30 languages