This is a futuristic novel that takes place in northern USA sometime in the beginning of the twenty-first century, in the oppressive and totalitarian Republic of Gilead. The regime demands high moral, retribution and a virtuous lifestyle. The Bible is the guiding principle. As a result of the sexual freedom, free abortion and a high increase of venereal diseases at the end of the twentieth century, many women, (and men also, but that is forbidden to say), are sterile. The women, who are still fertile, are recruited as Handmaids, and their onl ....