The Republic of Gilead allows Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like all dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred’s nor that of the two men on which her future hangs… Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of 21st century America gives full reign to Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit and astute perception.