The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
0.1329Canon Score · ranked #191 all time
Aggregated from 3 of 14 authoritative lists, weighted by authority and adjusted for each list's scope and age. How scoring works →
About the book
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England, in a strongly patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state, known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government. The central character and narrator is a woman named Offred, one of the group known as "handmaids", who are forcibly assigned to produce childre
Why it ranks #191
Every list on which The Handmaid's Tale appears, with its position as published.
| List | Authority | Position |
|---|---|---|
| BBC 100 Stories That Shaped the World | Major international poll | #16 / 100 |
| BBC Big Read Top 200 (2003) | Editorial list | #131 / 200 |
| OCLC/WorldCat Top 500 Novels (2019) | Editorial list | #166 / 500 |