Gilead Reclaimed

'The Testaments' by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, 2019)

So, where do you start with probably the biggest book of the year, in terms of anticipation, hype and sales?  Was there anything more to 'The Testaments' by Margaret Atwood than outstanding branding and an expertly co-ordinated, multi-platform promotional campaign?  Well, here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

Set 15 years after 'The Handmaid's Tale', 'The Testaments' is the story of three women.  Aunt Lydia is the most feared and powerful of the brown-clad aunts, sowing seeds and keeping secrets until her private aims can come to blessed fruition.  Sheltered commander's daughter Agnes is happily training for the role of a good wife, until her 'mother' dies and is replaced by the scheming widow Paula.  This, along with the arrival of a Handmaid, opens Agnes's eyes to the fragility of adult state-sanctioned relationships, making her question the lessons she's been taught about the life she can expect.  Over the border in Canada, where Pearl Girls hunt in pairs for new wombs for Gilead, Daisy is a typical teenager growing up in obscurity, until an act of rebellion exposes her and her family to dangers she never knew existed.  The cracks in these apparently ordinary lives reflect the cracks in the state itself, but are they enough to bring about the end of Gilead?

It goes without saying that 'The Testaments' is well-written, interesting and carefully crafted.  Each of the three women has a distinct voice and offers a separate view of the state of Gilead.  It's a good story, a page-turner by the end.  But I didn't connect with it as I did with 'The Handmaid's Tale'.

In 'The Handmaid's Tale', Offred is an everywoman.  She could be any childbearing-age female reading it.  She's not unique, she's not powerful, she's not special.  Even her real name is a mystery (or was before the TV show seized upon the fan-held belief that it's 'June').  She could be anyone, making it easy to emotionally connect with her and her experiences, and therefore feel the consequences of the political regime she's subject to.  In 'The Testaments', however, the characters all have power through status, in one form or another, giving them choices that Offred would never have.  Consequently, we don't so much have a warning from history as a hope for the future.  This appears to be the story of the fall of Gilead, but, to be honest, it felt as fake as anything on the Gilead news.  I obviously can't say much as I don't want to spoil the plot, but in an age where we know more about what other states get up to than ever before but don't feel the need to speak let alone act, I find it hard to believe that shame brings down Gilead.  If 'The Handmaid's Tale' was a wake up call, 'The Testaments' is a comforting bedtime story.

While 'The Handmaid's Tale' felt like Atwood's political statement, 'The Testaments' felt like her personal one.  The TV drama has been an enormous hit and the striking visuals its creative team produced mean that adaptation and source material are permanently entwined.  You can't imagine Gilead without seeing it as it appears on screen.  By writing the end of Gilead, 'The Testaments' Atwood is reclaiming her territory.  "I started this", she's saying "It ends when I say so."

Looking beyond all this, though, it is a really good book.  Aunt Lydia's story from the early days of Gilead is not for the faint hearted but gets the message across, while there will be young women who connect with Agnes and Daisy's inspirational heroism and strength of character.  Whether it's a worthy joint-Booker prize winner isn't for me to say, but if you approach it with an open mind, you'll find 'The Testaments' an absorbing, female-led story of world-changing bravery.

Just one more thing.  It's been said that 'Baby Nicole' isn't Offred's daughter.  I find it hard to believe that an author with Atwood's love of linguistic games wouldn't name Nick's daughter after him ('Nick-ole').  Just saying.

Now, what next...?

This review is based on the hardback copy of 'The Testaments' by Margaret Atwood, published September 2019 by Chatto & Windus.