The Booker Prizes celebrates the world’s most outstanding fiction, whether written in or translated into English, and each month they shine a spotlight on a different book from the Booker Library.
This month they are celebrating Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale with a reading guide, an extract, an exclusive interview and a chance to win a copy of the book. Access the Booker Monthly Spotlight today
We will be sharing the Booker Prizes Monthly Spotlight for you to enjoy each month.
Introducing the Booker Prizes April Monthly Spotlight: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale was Atwood’s sixth novel – a chilling work of speculative fiction that masterfully examines gender, power, and resistance. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1986 and won the first-ever Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987, and has since become a modern classic, inspiring adaptations across film, television, theatre, and ballet.
Set in the totalitarian Republic of Gilead, where plummeting birth rates have led to the enslavement of fertile women as ‘Handmaids’, the novel follows Offred as she navigates a world stripped of freedom. Her memories of life before – her husband, her child, her autonomy – offer both comfort and torment.
Since its publication in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale has become a cornerstone of feminist and dystopian literature. Its stark imagery – the red cloaks, the white bonnets – has transformed into a global symbol of resistance, while its warnings about extremism, environmental collapse, and the fragility of rights remain as urgent as ever.
From a reading guide and extract to illuminating features, find out more here.
The International Booker Prize 2025
The Booker Prizes have announced the longlist for this year’s Booker Prize – the world’s most influential prize for a single work of fiction.
Featuring a full thirteen authors making their International Booker Prize debut, the longlist packs big themes for all readers.
Find out all about the longlist here.
Get your digital pack here.
Get involved
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