Reading order · 2 books · 1985 to 2019 · Set in the fictional Gilead, New England
Gilead Books in Order
The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments are set in Gilead, a theocracy that has taken over the United States, where fertile women are forced to bear children for the ruling class.
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Series facts
- Books
- 2
- Published
- 1985 to 2019
- First book
- The Handmaid’s Tale
- Latest
- The Testaments (2019)
- Setting
- Set in the fictional Gilead, New England
The reading order
Every Gilead book in publication order. Choose a title for its cast and summary.
2 books · Set in the fictional Gilead, New England
- 1The Handmaid’s Tale1985With OffredOffred 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.Buy on Amazon
- 2The Testaments2019With Aunt Lydia and Agnes JemimaFifteen 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.Buy on Amazon
Do you need to read them in order?
Read The Handmaid’s Tale, then The Testaments, set fifteen years later.
Who appears in which book
The series’ main characters, book by book. Lead means the book is told around them; minor covers cameos.
| Book | Aunt Lydia | Offred | Agnes Jemima | Daisy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 The Handmaid’s Tale | MMajor | LLead | ||
| 2 The Testaments | LLead | LLead | LLead |
Characters in the Gilead books
6 characters from Margaret Atwood’s chart, with the number of Gilead books each appears in.
| Character | Books | First in this series |
|---|---|---|
| Aunt LydiaFounder of the Aunts | 2 | The Handmaid’s Tale 1985 |
| OffredHandmaid | 1 | The Handmaid’s Tale 1985 |
| Agnes JemimaGirl raised in Gilead | 1 | The Testaments 2019 |
| DaisyGirl raised in Canada | 1 | The Testaments 2019 |
| Serena JoyCommander’s wife | 1 | The Handmaid’s Tale 1985 |
| The CommanderOffred’s master | 1 | The Handmaid’s Tale 1985 |