THE HANDMAID’S TALE

Fawcett Crest, New York, 1989, reprint.  ISBN 0-449-21260-2.  Soft cover, 395 pages.  Good reading copy; wraps show edge and cover wear, rubs, small chips, reading creases, tear on rear wrap repaired on verso, small tears at lower spine edges; binding sound.  Small splash drops on first blurb page; remainder of interior clean and unmarked with browning pages.  ‘Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead.  She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable.  Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge.  But all of that is gone now…everything has changed.’ (from rear wrap)