The Testaments (Random House UK Ltd)

** WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 ** ** SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ** BOOK OF THE YEAR: Daily Telegraph, Evening kanon, Stylist, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Guardian, The Times, Observer, Red Margaret Atwood's dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid's Tale, is a modern classic.

Now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel. More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within.

At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results. Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined aby a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.

As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes. 'Dear Readers: Everything you've ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book.

Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we've been living in.' Margaret Atwood Thrilling and blistering * Daily Telegraph * An incredible follow-up * the Sun, *Pick of the Week* * Gripping, pacy and beautifully written -- Justine Jordan * Guardian * Finding hope in a hopeless place, this is everything The Handmaid's Tale fans wanted and more.

Prepare to hold your breath throughout, and to cry real tears at the end. My book of the year -- Kayleigh Dray * Stylist * The Testaments is Atwood at her best, in its mixture of generosity, insight and control.

The prose is adroit, direct, beautifully turned. All over the reading world, the history books are being opened to the next blank page and Atwood's name is written at the top of it. To read this book is to feel the world turning -- Anne Enright * Guardian * I gobbled it down...

Atwood has an incredible intellectual nimbleness that challenges us constantly and poses the question that lies like a pearl inside the shell of this frighteningly readable novel, "Before you sit in judgement, how would you behave in Gilead?" -- Allison Pearson * Sunday Telegraph * No one needs another recommendation for The Testaments and still I have to say how thrilling it is when a book manages to exceed all expectations.

How did she manage to make darkness feel so