Hulu recently released a trailer for the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale, a Hulu original series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel. If you, like me, can’t wait to binge the new season, here are some recent dystopian novels you might enjoy.
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich (2017; 269 pages). In a future world where evolution seems to be reversing itself and women are giving birth to a more primitive species of human, Cedar Songmaker may be carrying a perfect child. After an ultrasound reveals this, Cedar must escape from lawmakers who want to put her in captivity until her child is born.
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas (2018; 356 pages). In this future world, the Personhood Amendment has overturned Roe v. Wade and both abortion and in-vitro fertilization is banned. The book follows four characters – The Mender, The Biographer, The Daughter, and The Wife – as they navigate this misogynistic world.
The Power by Naomi Alderman (2017; 386 pages). This speculative science-fiction tale is a little bit like the opposite of The Handmaid’s Tale. In Alderman’s novel, teenage girls start discovering a power within them and the ability to awaken this power in older women. They can now generate electricity, much like an electric eel, and the plot unfolds around four main characters as the world deals with this changing reality.
Are you as intrigued with feminist dystopian novels as I am? Will you be watching the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale when it comes out this spring?
— Abby Johnson, Collection Development Leader
