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← Margaret Atwood
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Margaret Atwood reading flowchart
Every Margaret Atwood book in reading order by series, with the characters in each book, first appearances and crossovers.
READING FLOWCHART
Margaret Atwood
Read down each column. Every card lists the characters in that book, marks first appearances and crossovers, and says where it is set.
Titles and names link to their pages on the site.
GILEAD
2 books
MADDADDAM
3 books
NOVELS
10 books
The Handmaid’s Tale
'85
L
Offred
NEW
M
Aunt Lydia
NEW
M
Serena Joy
NEW
M
The Commander
NEW
WHERE
Gilead (fictional), N…
CHARACTERS
4 (4 main)
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985): Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, assigned to a Commander and his wife to bear them a child, while she remembers her life before.
The Testaments
'19
L
Aunt Lydia
L
Agnes Jemima
NEW
L
Daisy
NEW
WHERE
Gilead (fictional), N…
CHARACTERS
3 (3 main)
The Testaments (2019): Fifteen years after Offred’s story, three women tell how Gilead began to fall: Aunt Lydia, a girl raised in Gilead, and a girl raised in Canada.
Oryx and Crake
'03
L
Snowman
NEW
M
Crake
NEW
WHERE
North America
CHARACTERS
2 (2 main)
Oryx and Crake (2003): Snowman, perhaps the last human, lives among a gentle new species and remembers his friend Crake and the woman they both loved, Oryx.
The Year of the Flood
'09
L
Toby
NEW
L
Ren
NEW
M
Snowman
M
Zeb
NEW
·
Crake
WHERE
North America
CHARACTERS
5 (4 main)
The Year of the Flood (2009): Toby and Ren, two women from the eco-religious God’s Gardeners, survive the plague that wipes out most of humanity, and look back on the world that led to it.
MaddAddam
'13
L
Toby
L
Zeb
M
Snowman
·
Crake
·
Ren
WHERE
North America
CHARACTERS
5 (3 main)
MaddAddam (2013): Toby, Ren and the surviving Gardeners shelter with the gentle Crakers, while Zeb tells his story and they prepare to face the violent Painballers.
The Edible Woman
'69
L
Marian McAlpin
NEW
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
1 (1 main)
The Edible Woman (1969): Marian McAlpin, a young market researcher in Toronto, becomes engaged and finds she can no longer eat, as if her body is rebelling against the life ahead of her.
Surfacing
'72
No recurring characters charted
WHERE
Northern Quebec
CHARACTERS
0 (0 main)
Surfacing (1972): A young woman returns to the remote island in northern Quebec where she grew up, to search for her missing father with her lover and a married couple.
Lady Oracle
'76
No recurring characters charted
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
0 (0 main)
Lady Oracle (1976): Joan Foster, a secret writer of costume romances who has become a famous poet by accident, fakes her own death and escapes to Italy, where she looks back on her tangled lives.
Cat’s Eye
'88
L
Elaine Risley
NEW
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
1 (1 main)
Cat’s Eye (1988): Elaine Risley, a painter, returns to Toronto for a retrospective and is flooded with memories of a childhood friend who tormented her.
The Robber Bride
'93
No recurring characters charted
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
0 (0 main)
The Robber Bride (1993): Three friends in Toronto, Tony, Charis and Roz, have each had a man stolen by the beautiful, ruthless Zenia. They thought she was dead, until she walks into a restaurant.
Alias Grace
'96
L
Grace Marks
NEW
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
1 (1 main)
Alias Grace (1996): In 1843 Grace Marks, a sixteen-year-old servant in Canada, is convicted of murder. Years later a young doctor tries to learn the truth from her.
The Blind Assassin
'00
L
Iris Chase
NEW
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
1 (1 main)
The Blind Assassin (2000): Iris Chase, in her eighties, tells the story of her sister Laura, who drove off a bridge in 1945, and the novel published under Laura’s name.
The Penelopiad
'05
L
Penelope
NEW
WHERE
Ithaca
CHARACTERS
1 (1 main)
The Penelopiad (2005): Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, tells her side of the Odyssey from the underworld, joined by a chorus of the twelve maids who were hanged.
The Heart Goes Last
'15
No recurring characters charted
WHERE
Toronto
CHARACTERS
0 (0 main)
The Heart Goes Last (2015): Stan and Charmaine, living in their car after an economic collapse, sign up for a gated town where residents spend alternate months at home and in prison.
Hag-Seed
'16
L
Felix Phillips
NEW
WHERE
Ontario
CHARACTERS
1 (1 main)
Hag-Seed (2016): Felix, a theatre director forced out of his job, stages The Tempest with prisoners, and plans his revenge.
L
Lead
M
Major
·
Minor or cameo
NEW
First appearance
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