I had never read anything like Ms. Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. I picked up the novel before the Hulu show had come out. It is a dystopian novel set in New England. The women are forbidden to use their birth names and are owned by the men. This novel explores individualism and independence in a world dominated by men.
A look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.