But when their father disappears and three strange men appear on the island, the strict rules and dictums the girls have always followed begin to unravel. Men are apparently responsible for this toxicity and only certain bizarre tests that their parents administer can save the sisters from contamination. An unexplained ecological disaster has rendered the mainland uninhabitable.

Margaret Atwood raved about this Booker-nominated debut novel (and March BuzzFeed Book Club pick) about three sisters who live on a remote island with their parents.

How the three women end up converging is part of the suspense of the novel, which generally unfolds as a much more straightforward thriller than Handmaid’s - fitting for the upcoming TV show it will soon be.

Instead of one narrator, Atwood expands to three: Aunt Lydia, the devious mastermind behind the Rachel and Leah Center - where Handmaids learn how to prepare for their lives as concubines, and two young girls - Daisy, a 16-year-old who lives in Toronto with her liberal parents and goes to protests against Gilead, and Agnes, who has grown up in Gilead with a high-ranking Commander father and attends school to learn how to become a diligent, submissive wife. It’s here! The highly anticipated sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale is out now and picks up 15 years after Offred steps into that black van, her fate unknown.

The handmaid's tale series books