<Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 311 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> ISBN </Th> <Td> 0 - 7710 - 0813 - 9 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood . The book was originally published in 1985 . Set in a near - future New England, in a totalitarian, Christian theonomy that has overthrown the United States government . The novel is based around the journey of the handmaid Offred, an emphasis on the possessive form "of Fred," as handmaids are forbidden to use their birth names and must echo the male, or master, for whom they serve . </P> <P> The Handmaid's Tale explores themes of women in subjugation to misogyny in a patriarchal society and the various means by which these women gain individualism and independence . The novel's title echoes the component parts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which is a series of connected stories ("The Merchant's Tale", "The Parson's Tale", etc .). </P>

When does the handmaid's tale take place