---
product_id: 2204304
title: "The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel"
price: "302 kr"
currency: NOK
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.no/products/2204304-the-handmaids-tale-a-novel
store_origin: NO
region: Norway
---

# NYT #1 Bestseller 180K+ Reviews, 4.3⭐ Top #4 Political Fiction The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel

**Price:** 302 kr
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Unlock the dystopia everyone’s talking about — don’t miss the cultural phenomenon!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
- **How much does it cost?** 302 kr with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.no](https://www.desertcart.no/products/2204304-the-handmaids-tale-a-novel)

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## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
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## Key Features

- • **Provocative Social Commentary:** Explore themes of gender, power, and resistance that spark essential conversations.
- • **Award-Winning Hulu Series Adaptation:** Join millions streaming the gripping final season starring Elisabeth Moss.
- • **A Modern Classic of Dystopian Fiction:** Experience Margaret Atwood’s visionary narrative that shaped feminist literature.
- • **Open-Ended, Thought-Provoking Narrative:** Engage with a story that challenges you to imagine multiple futures and perspectives.
- • **Culturally Prescient & Uncomfortably Relevant:** Dive into a world eerily mirroring today’s social and political tensions.

## Overview

The Handmaid’s Tale is Margaret Atwood’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel, a landmark feminist dystopian classic that explores a totalitarian regime’s control over women’s bodies and society. With over 180,000 reviews and top rankings in political fiction and literary criticism, it remains a culturally vital and chilling cautionary tale, amplified by its acclaimed Hulu adaptation.

## Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” ( The New York Times ) • The sixth and final season of the award-winning Hulu series starring Elisabeth Moss is now streaming Look for The Testaments , the bestselling, award-winning sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale In Margaret Atwood’s dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The result is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. Offred is one of these, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gilead’s commanders. Deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom, and even her own name, Offred clings to her memories and her will to survive. At once a scathing satire, an ominous warning, and a tour de force of narrative suspense, The Handmaid’s Tale is a modern classic. Includes an introduction by Margaret Atwood

Review: Everyone Should Read This Atleast Once. - **Spoiler Alert** This book is haunting and made me nauseous. Partly because of the numerous similarities to the world we live in and recent political happenings, and partly because of the extreme treatment of women in this alternate reality that is so much like ours. In Gilead, women are objects; yes, they are prized if they can conceive, but even then they are merely seen as an item. The book follows June throughout her post at her newest commander's house. She talks about the facts, her memories, and her wishes. She often bounces between reality and her memories or dream world and shows the reader how she copes with the uncertainty of her situation. She knows nothing, not the news, not the names of the people she lives with, and not even the fate of her daughter and husband. She often spends time thinking of a life where this never happened, where her husband is happy and with her and her daughter is laughing and free. She remembers her time with her daughter, and she copes with her disappearance by keeping her at 4 years old in her mind. This is inevitably shattered when Serena shows her a picture of her now grown daughter, which leads to a bigger mental breakdown and thoughts of suicide. Her husband's fate is one she ponders often, and though it is implied that he is dead, there is never any clarification for June, and she often imagines his fate. It is interesting and dizzying to read through this book as much of it follows June's mental dialogue, which is often in a panic state. She has ideas that make no sense, extreme fixation on details, coping by dissociation, and many other signs of stress and panic. Often the plot of the story was hidden in between words, much like how news of the world and the truth was hidden between words for those in Gilead. This book touches on topics of being the other woman, which is one I personally am not a fan of. June was the other woman to her now-husband for a couple of years while he was still married, and ended up being in a strange Stockholm syndrome relationship with her commander. To be fair, she couldn’t deny her commander's advances, which makes it rape; but she also ended up forming a weird relationship with the garage man (?). I did really appreciate how the ending was open, and it meshed really well with the tone of the book. This book was not meant to be resolved but to be understood.
Review: All We Have is Perspective - I picked up the kindle version of The Handmaid’s Tale due to the fact the library was out, and this book was not what I expected. I had heard of it many times before, a classic, and now it is culturally relevant more than it was a few years ago, probably explaining why the library was out. The strongest asset of this story is Margaret Atwood’s writing style. I was enthralled by her use of language and could not guess where the plot was going to go, which is almost always a good thing. In this case, however, I found the plot direction to be ultimately dissatisfying. This book reads more like a description of a very intricate and complicated society and less like a traditional story. The characters were fleshed-out and believable, yet by the end of the story I could not tell you how most of them grew or changed over the course of the book. The main character starts off by referencing aspects of the dystopian future she lives in, and slowly she reveals more details about this world as well as her past. I don’t think that the plot is supposed to be the focus of this book, but I couldn’t help being disappointed with the main character’s ending and the questions left over about her. I felt left hanging at the end of the book and especially at the end of the “Historical Notes” epilogue. It did explain some unanswered questions but for me also raised more. Typically I like open endings, because there tend to be a few likely possibilities and the reader can use their imagination or pick between what might be possible. With this book, however, I have no guess, I have no idea what might be possible endings to the main character’s story, which is only disappointing because I enjoyed the rest of the book so much. This is a minor complaint, though, considering that I imagine the book to be far more driven by description, metaphor, and social commentary than by the plot. Overall, though, I think that the descriptions and metaphors that paint her experience do a great job of building the world and tackling the important social issues that arise. This story has a lot to say about gender dynamics, relationships, procreation, and the way the government as well as society in general views and handles these issues. I think this could easily be seen as a cautionary tale, to keep empathy in mind and to try to see things from the view of “the other”. This is a story from a woman’s perspective, and the women in this story essentially function only as property of men, yet are controlled by other women. A society that has in many ways returned to the past. Atwood does a good job of also explaining the men’s dissatisfaction and unhappiness in this world, giving a sense of their perspective and how this future didn’t turn out how they’d hoped, which is a big reason I’d recommend this book to both men and women. There is a large amount of distrust observed by the main character, and I could see it applying to any person theoretically living in this dystopia, especially considering how different people have different kinds of power over each other. I think this resonates with real life, and I can identify with the main character in her seemingly constantly being aware of everyone having desires and negotiating. These are major themes I noticed in this story, which also does well to tie into the themes of relationships and friendships. These themes show us the importance of coming together, communicating, and standing up for others, especially when a government system creates enemies by generalizing large groups of people. This is an example of how this book is standing the test of time, is relevant now, and will likely continue to be relevant.

## Features

- Great product!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #904 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Literary Criticism & Theory #4 in Political Fiction (Books) #14 in Censorship & Politics |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 180,194 Reviews |

## Images

![The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61wugk54SVL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Everyone Should Read This Atleast Once.
*by A***E on August 5, 2026*

**Spoiler Alert** This book is haunting and made me nauseous. Partly because of the numerous similarities to the world we live in and recent political happenings, and partly because of the extreme treatment of women in this alternate reality that is so much like ours. In Gilead, women are objects; yes, they are prized if they can conceive, but even then they are merely seen as an item. The book follows June throughout her post at her newest commander's house. She talks about the facts, her memories, and her wishes. She often bounces between reality and her memories or dream world and shows the reader how she copes with the uncertainty of her situation. She knows nothing, not the news, not the names of the people she lives with, and not even the fate of her daughter and husband. She often spends time thinking of a life where this never happened, where her husband is happy and with her and her daughter is laughing and free. She remembers her time with her daughter, and she copes with her disappearance by keeping her at 4 years old in her mind. This is inevitably shattered when Serena shows her a picture of her now grown daughter, which leads to a bigger mental breakdown and thoughts of suicide. Her husband's fate is one she ponders often, and though it is implied that he is dead, there is never any clarification for June, and she often imagines his fate. It is interesting and dizzying to read through this book as much of it follows June's mental dialogue, which is often in a panic state. She has ideas that make no sense, extreme fixation on details, coping by dissociation, and many other signs of stress and panic. Often the plot of the story was hidden in between words, much like how news of the world and the truth was hidden between words for those in Gilead. This book touches on topics of being the other woman, which is one I personally am not a fan of. June was the other woman to her now-husband for a couple of years while he was still married, and ended up being in a strange Stockholm syndrome relationship with her commander. To be fair, she couldn’t deny her commander's advances, which makes it rape; but she also ended up forming a weird relationship with the garage man (?). I did really appreciate how the ending was open, and it meshed really well with the tone of the book. This book was not meant to be resolved but to be understood.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ All We Have is Perspective
*by L***N on February 13, 2017*

I picked up the kindle version of The Handmaid’s Tale due to the fact the library was out, and this book was not what I expected. I had heard of it many times before, a classic, and now it is culturally relevant more than it was a few years ago, probably explaining why the library was out. The strongest asset of this story is Margaret Atwood’s writing style. I was enthralled by her use of language and could not guess where the plot was going to go, which is almost always a good thing. In this case, however, I found the plot direction to be ultimately dissatisfying. This book reads more like a description of a very intricate and complicated society and less like a traditional story. The characters were fleshed-out and believable, yet by the end of the story I could not tell you how most of them grew or changed over the course of the book. The main character starts off by referencing aspects of the dystopian future she lives in, and slowly she reveals more details about this world as well as her past. I don’t think that the plot is supposed to be the focus of this book, but I couldn’t help being disappointed with the main character’s ending and the questions left over about her. I felt left hanging at the end of the book and especially at the end of the “Historical Notes” epilogue. It did explain some unanswered questions but for me also raised more. Typically I like open endings, because there tend to be a few likely possibilities and the reader can use their imagination or pick between what might be possible. With this book, however, I have no guess, I have no idea what might be possible endings to the main character’s story, which is only disappointing because I enjoyed the rest of the book so much. This is a minor complaint, though, considering that I imagine the book to be far more driven by description, metaphor, and social commentary than by the plot. Overall, though, I think that the descriptions and metaphors that paint her experience do a great job of building the world and tackling the important social issues that arise. This story has a lot to say about gender dynamics, relationships, procreation, and the way the government as well as society in general views and handles these issues. I think this could easily be seen as a cautionary tale, to keep empathy in mind and to try to see things from the view of “the other”. This is a story from a woman’s perspective, and the women in this story essentially function only as property of men, yet are controlled by other women. A society that has in many ways returned to the past. Atwood does a good job of also explaining the men’s dissatisfaction and unhappiness in this world, giving a sense of their perspective and how this future didn’t turn out how they’d hoped, which is a big reason I’d recommend this book to both men and women. There is a large amount of distrust observed by the main character, and I could see it applying to any person theoretically living in this dystopia, especially considering how different people have different kinds of power over each other. I think this resonates with real life, and I can identify with the main character in her seemingly constantly being aware of everyone having desires and negotiating. These are major themes I noticed in this story, which also does well to tie into the themes of relationships and friendships. These themes show us the importance of coming together, communicating, and standing up for others, especially when a government system creates enemies by generalizing large groups of people. This is an example of how this book is standing the test of time, is relevant now, and will likely continue to be relevant.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A thoughful read, if and only if, you think about it.
*by T***N on August 11, 2013*

The Handmaid's Tale is a relatively "old" book in that it was first published in 1985, but it is still popular/well-known. This is not surprising as Margaret Atwood is one of those author’s whose work will endure as "literature" and she will still be well known in 100 years. That is, unless the Handmaid's Tale is prophetic and all secular literature is burned. Don't worry, it won't be. However, it does have some elements that could be argued as being a caricature of modern day happenings. There are plenty of reviews out there that give a run down of the plot and how they feel it's all happening right now. No doubt many of these reviews are from women, and justifiably so since this book "speaks to them". So I'm going to discuss the subtext of the novel, and hopefully, I can get a few guys to read this book because there is stuff in it for them. The background story is that The United States has been taken over by religious fundamentalists. The religion is never mentioned by name, but it is clearly Christian/Jewish/Islamic. When it comes to their respective flavors of fundamentalism, they all bear a striking resemblance to one another whether they want to admit it or not. This is not surprising, since they all worship the same god and use overlapping religious texts. If you're curious about the tale of how this happened, this is not the book for you. After all, this is the Handmaid's Tale. All you get is the story of one woman starting probably about 10 years after an event called "The President's Day Massacre", i.e. the coup where the fundamentalists took over. Personally, I do not think such a regime could take over in such a simple manner, but what followed after the coup is more plausible. As I said, we don't get much of this story directly, but we hear snippets of how, slowly, over the course of weeks and months, oppressive policies are implemented and they are always implemented for the same reasons that such policies are implemented today. Namely, the safety of the public, the betterment of society, etc. At the same time, women are slowly and unequally stripped of their rights. If you think that women could never be usurped of their identities in this way, and no one would stand for it, blah, blah, blah. You are wrong. All it takes is the right social pressure. Imagine a scenario where the number of women capable of bearing children is cut to a small percentage. They then become a "national resource". (My words, not the author's.) When it comes to resources, there will always be people (usually men, and this is coming from a man) in power who will want to exploit and seize control of such resources. This is how such things can happen. And this is the scenario used by Atwood in The Handmaid's Tale. When I was younger, I probably would never have bought that line of reasoning and not terribly enjoyed this story. As I've aged to a venerable 40 years and some of my Platonic idealism has tarnished, I have learned to accept that "the masses" don't get as outraged as individuals do. Most of the time, groups of people are scared when it comes to dramatic change and accept it if fed the line that it is temporary and for the good of all. Most of the time, these changes are never about being for the good of all, they are simply about control. A past example to show even women are not above this: The Temperance movement to abolish alcohol. Propelled by religious minded women, fresh with their new ability to vote. Despite Jesus being pro-wine they felt it their duty to rid the world of drink. You can argue the details all you want, but at the end of the day, it was about asserting power and control. A modern example: For the past 12 years, the U. S. citizens have been force fed the line that we are all living under a faceless threat of "Terror" and in this time we have fought two wars, one of which we are still fighting, and most of us don't really know why, other than we are "fighting terror". These wars are not as openly covered as the Vietnam War, because our government has learned that atrocities that are not visited daily are quickly forgotten because people prefer to stick their head in the sand. And so people forget. They don't get outraged. They simply accept the situation because it is supposedly temporary, for the good of us all, for all our safety, blah, blah, blah. What are we looking to control? Some say oil, others say that the area is strategically located real estate. Regardless, it is about control. So do I think a "fast coup" could take over and make such radical changes? No. But a slow insidious change over the course of a decade or two? Well, I have seen it with my own eyes, so yes, the scenario in The Handmaid's Tale is plausible to me, but I know that such a shift would happen over years, not months. Anyone who thinks otherwise is sticking their fingers in their ears, closing their eyes, and repeating the above blah, blah, blahs. A possible future example that's been a long time in the making: During the 80's (my youth) religious fundamentalists (in this country) blew up abortion clinics because they were outraged and wanted change. Presumably, they wanted things to return to the way they were when abortions were illegal, in back allies with coat hangers. Just in my lifetime, they have since learned that getting people upset only motivates them to stand with or against you. And if you're the one blowing up teenagers, it's tough to motivate people to stand with you. They have taken their fight political, a realm where everybody's eyes glaze over and become dispassionate, and they have slowly set about making laws against birth control and abortion clinics. As someone who is pro-choice, I can't say all of these laws are bad. Many are simply requiring clinics to uphold standard medical cleanliness practices. The laws that really hurt, are the laws that reduce or eliminate funding preventing the clinics from having the money to be able to upgrade their facilities and are forced to shut down. You can tell this is about the control of others and not about any religious objection because the number one cited religious reason is the belief that life begins at conception. Rather than supporting research for birth control that simply prevents conception, they politically attack all avenues of abortion and birth control. So even if you address their concerns, it does not change the way they behave. Leaving the examples and subtext behind, back to the story at hand. The Handmaid's Tale is true literature, thus by practical definition, this makes the story a little slow and boring at points. When I was in college, I had to take plenty of slow and boring classes that I thought were of minimal value. However, I quickly learned that it is possible to garner lessons from and learn something from every class and that is what I set out to do. I took it upon myself to walk away with something for my time and money. This book requires that same model of thought. Even after 28 years, there is a wealth of intriguing thought experiments that went into the writing of this story and a similar trove for those willing to consider the next step of reasoning, but you have to be willing to dig for that gold. And there you have it. The subtext of The Handmaid's tale is a marvellously thought provoking book about the subtleties that go into how societies change, but if you're not interested in thinking, move on to something formulated for entertainment purposes this is not the novel for you.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Handmaid's Tale
- The Testaments: A Novel (The Handmaid's Tale)
- 1984: 75th Anniversary

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