Dear Great Book Guru, My book club meets every month and we are always looking for our next good book. We recently read the 1980’s classic THE HANDMAID’S TALE and some members mentioned there is a sequel. Do you think we would enjoy it?  Sequel Searchers

Dear Sequel Searchers, I just finished Margaret Atwood’s THE TESTAMENTS - the sequel to THE HANDMAID’S TALE – and I found it fascinating.  The novel begins fifteen years after the end of THE HANDMAID’S TALE. The Republic of Gilead maintains its tyrannical control and international politics is in chaos. Canada plays a pivotal role as the former United States of America continues its theocratic repression of women. The story is told from three viewpoints:  Aunt Lydia who might well be a totally unreliable narrator and two first-generation children of the Gilead - Daisy and Agnes. Of the three, Aunt Lydia is the most interesting. An accomplished, highly educated lawyer and judge before the coup, she became part of the new regime. The choices she recounts could be altruistic but there is always doubt as to her true motivations. With the younger girls, we see the effects of this cruel regime, but we also see their irrepressible spirit.  Your book club will have a lively discussion about the ending- is there cause for optimism or…pessimism?  Recommended!