What is the plot of the Testaments?

The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s follow-up to her classic novel The Handmaid’s Tale, returns to that dystopic theocracy 15 years later via three protagonists: Agnes, a girl in Gilead who from a young age rejects marriage, though her parents intend to marry her to a powerful Commander.

What is the main plot of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale?

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) is a novel of speculative fiction by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian theocracy which has overthrown the United States government, the dystopian novel explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain agency.

What happens at the end of the Testaments?

How does The Testaments book end? Without giving too much away: Incriminating info about Gilead is smuggled into Canada, which ultimately leads to the dystopian empire’s downfall and the re-establishment of the United States in its stead.

How does the testaments end by Margaret Atwood?

The Testaments ends with the Thirteenth Symposium of Gilead Studies – an academic conference taking place many years after the regime’s destruction. This is the same framing that concludes The Handmaid’s Tale, although the emphasis here is different.

Does Serena get baby Nicole back?

Serena helped get Nichole out of Gilead at the end of season 2. But Serena made a 180 flip in season 3, going back on her decision to get Nichole out of the country. In turn, Fred and Serena spend the first half of season 3 trying to get the baby back.

Does Handmaid’s Tale follow the book?

The events of The Handmaid’s Tale season 1 covered the book in its entirety, with the exception of its future-set epilogue. Atwood herself, however, returned to write a belated sequel novel, The Testaments, which released in 2019, shortly after The Handmaid’s Tale season 3 came to an end.

Does June end up with Nick or Luke in the book?

He was operating under the thought that the woman he knew was still there. And to a degree, she was. But Gilead changed June so much that there’s no going back to the person she once was. Moss told Elle she chose Nick over Luke in the finale because Luke can’t understand what she wants.

Does June end up with Nick?

A happy ending for June and Nick remains incredibly unlikely, even with The Handmaid’s Tale season 4, episode 9 showcasing them as the Hulu series’ main love story. Nick remains entrapped within Gilead, and it’s hard to see any chance of him getting out alive.

Does June ever get Hannah back in the book?

But she grows up in Gilead and becomes an Aunt. And then, after a life-changing adventure including Nichole, Aunt Lydia, and new characters, Hannah and Nichole make it out of Gilead. They are reunited with June at the end. And the book confirms the girls are both reunited with their biological fathers.

When does the Testaments take place after the handmaid’s tale?

Now, in her eagerly awaited sequel, The Testaments, Atwood makes a series of dizzying creative decisions which move away from, but also develop out of, both novel and TV series. The action of The Testaments takes place 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale.

What is a witness in the handmaid’s tale?

Atwood has a three-pronged answer to this question, drawing on the structure of the novel — which is told by three narrators — and the religious aspects of Gilead. “It has several different meanings: last will and testament, Old and New Testaments. And what does a witness give? A testimony, but also a testament,” she says.

Is Margaret Atwood’s ‘the Testaments’ fairly outrageous?

SPOILER ALERT: This review contains plotlines and details from Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Testaments When Margaret Atwood was writing The Handmaid’s Tale in 1984, she felt that the main premise seemed “fairly outrageous”.

Why did Margaret Atwood wait so long to write the handmaid’s Tale 2?

One of the reasons Atwood waited as long as she did to write a sequel, she tells TIME, was because she felt re-creating Offred’s voice would be impossible. “She had said her piece, quite thoroughly,” Atwood says. But once she realized she could access Gilead through different characters, she knew she could write a follow-up.