Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE adapted into a graphic novel

It was announced this week that Doubleday Books would be publishing a graphic novel of Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE. The original novel was published in 1985, and has since been adapted as a Emmy and Golden Globe winning TV series on Hulu.

The 240 page graphic novel adaption about a handmaid named Offred who lives in the Republic of Gilead. A republic where women can’t do a lot of things that we take for granted including holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. The title was illustrated by Renée Nault, and is now available in hardcover, softcover, as well as a digital release (Kindle, Nook), and audiobook versions.

Official synopsis is below:

Everything Handmaids wear is red: the colour of blood, which defines us.

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. She serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if they are fertile. But Offred remembers the years before Gilead, when she was an independent woman who had a job, a family, and a name of her own. Now, her memories and her will to survive are acts of rebellion. 

Provocative, startling, prophetic, The Handmaid’s Tale has long been a global phenomenon. With this stunning graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s modern classic, beautifully realized by artist Renée Nault, the terrifying reality of Gilead has been brought to vivid life like never before.

Check back late next week for a review of the title by are very own Samantha Maybe.

Full press release is below. All images and artwork courtesy of their respective owners.

Doubleday Books To Publish Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale Graphic Novel

Art & Adaptation by Renée Nault

Originally published in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s novel THE HANDMAID’S TALE is a seminal work of fiction: influential and inspirational, provocative and prophetic. The book’s taut prose and unforgettable characters have been adapted into a major motion picture starring Natasha Richardson and Faye Dunaway, a radio play, a stage play, an opera, and, most recently, Hulu’s Emmy Award-winning show starring Elisabeth Moss. Now, on March 26, 2019, Doubleday Books will publish the first ever graphic novel adaptation of THE HANDMAID’S TALE.

THE HANDMAID’S TALE Graphic Novel features the art of Renée Nault — a Canadian artist and frequent illustrator for the Los Angeles Times — who was hand-selected by Atwood to adapt her seminal novel. Nault tells the iconic story of Offred and the Republic of Gilead over the course of 240 full-color  pages. Her watercolor illustrations, which took her over two years to complete from initial sketches to final pages, are gorgeous and haunting.  

And Atwood herself is no stranger to the world of comics and graphic novels. ANGEL CATBIRD, written by Atwood and illustrated by Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillian, was the author’s first ever New York Times # 1 bestseller in 2016.

THE HANDMAID’S TALE has long been a global phenomenon. With this stunning graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s modern classic, beautifully realized by artist Renée Nault, the terrifying reality of Gilead has been brought to vivid life like never before. Like the Booker Award-winning novel it adapts, THE HANDMAID’S TALE Graphic Novel is worthy of widespread attention and discussion.

About Margaret Atwood: Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in over forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays and graphic novels. In addition to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series, her novels include Cat’s Eye, shortlisted for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. She lives in Toronto with the writer Graeme Gibson.
About Renée Nault: Renée Nault is a Canadian artist, illustrator, and graphic novelist known for her vivid watercolor and ink illustrations. Her work has appeared in books, magazines,newspapers, and advertising around the world. She is a frequent illustrator for the Los Angeles Times . Please visit www.reneenault.com.