What Is The Handmaid's Tale About?

The Handmaid's Tale is about a dystopian future where women are no longer able to bear children. The government has created a class of women who are forced to become handmaids, which means that they have been assigned a man to have sex with and bear his children. The book is set in the United States, and it follows one woman's journey through this new society as she struggles with her role as a handmaid.

The story begins when the main character, Offred (which means "of Fred"), wakes up after being asleep due to sedation. She has lost most of her memories of what happened before the nuclear war that destroyed the world, and she doesn't know if her husband and daughter are alive or dead. She soon realizes that this new society has created some very specific roles for women—and Offred has been assigned one such role: she is now a handmaid.

The story follows Offred as she tries to find out more about what happened during the time when she was unconscious, while also trying to figure out what kind of life she can build for herself within this new regime.

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