Reading lists

What to read after The Handmaid’s Tale

Finished The Handmaid’s Tale and wondering whether to read another dystopian classic or something else entirely? Biding your time until The Testaments? We’re here to help.

Hag-SeedMargaret Atwood

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Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold by Margaret Atwood

What could Felix possibly be suspected of smuggling, a harmless old thespian like him? It’s the words that should concern you, he thinks at them. That’s the real danger. Words don’t show up on scanners.

Felix, former Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre, is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge on those who ruined his career. After twelve years, it finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. It’s magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?

Exuberant, tightly-written and packed with humour, Hag-Seed offers many surprises on its journey to a startling climax.

Brave New WorldAldous Huxley

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.

No book aside from 1984 so dominates the mind as Brave New World when discussing dystopian fiction. The year is 2540 (632 After Ford), and London’s citizens have never been happier. The populace is dosed with the drug soma, an antidepressant and hallucinogenic. Bernard, dissatisfied and neurotic in a society in which everyone should be happy, brings John, a ‘savage’ from New Mexico, to London.

Sceptical of what he saw as an ongoing Americanisation of the U.K. and an increasing tendency towards seeking solace in consumerism, Huxley’s short novel remains extremely relevant and entertaining.

What to read after The Handmaid’s Tale

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