The sequel to The Handmaids Tale takes us many years forward. Gilead is corrupt from head to toe but opponents of the regime have taken high posts as well. The story shows us the past of Aunt Lydia, how she has worked her way up and her reasons for it. Girls that are now born in Gilead have no concept of freedom or what the country used to be before. They don’t know how to read or write and learn to be either good wives or servants. Through a lot of careful and cunning scheming over the years an opportunity arises for one of the Aunts to bring Gilead down once and for all. It is a dangerous mission but with the help of a ‘terrorist ‘movement called Mayday in Canada, there’s a slight chance of success.
Like its predecessor this book was fascinating as well as sometimes baffling. This book was made up of several different testimonies written in the first person and you just can’t tell if you are in the past when the US government was overturned, and Gilead was established or if something similar has started happening in Canada in the present.
I was also a bit displeased that the story didn’t continue with Offred and that her character had just a walk-on part in the sequel.
Her story line was the main reason I bought The Testaments because I wanted to know what happened to her when The Handmaid’s Tale was ended so dramatically. On the other hand, I understand that there was a long gap between the second book to pick up where the first book left off and it might not have been plausible.
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