History Literature / TheTestaments

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Aunt Lydia finds out that [[spoiler: Becka's father, a popular dentist,]] is a pedophile who is molesting his young patients and his own daughter. She decides to get rid of him so she enlists the help of Aunt Elizabeth and his own assistant to frame him for attempted rape. It works, and he is gruesomely killed by a mob of shrieking Handmaids, to the regret of absolutely nobody.

* DistantFinale: Like the previous book, the story ends with a text recording of a historical conference years after the fact, which gives further information regarding the fate of Gilead and many of the movel's characters.

* TheDeadHaveNames: After Ofkyle's death, Agnes searches for and eventually uncovers her name, which would otherwise have been lost to history. [[spoiler: Her name was Crystal.]]

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The novel mentions that UsefulNotes/{{California}} and UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} managed to hold out against Gilead and survived as independent nations, which was never mentioned in the book.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The novel mentions that UsefulNotes/California and UsefulNotes/Texas managed to hold out against Gilead and survived as independent nations, which was never mentioned in the book.

Set 15 years after the ending of ''Handmaid'', which centered around the totalitarian state "Gilead", the book picks up with the perspective of three narrators: the adopted daughter of a Commander, a young woman observing Gilead from Canada, and [[DrillSergeantNasty Aunt Lydia]] of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', a founder and respected leader within the nation.

As the book opens, Lydia charts her history amid the establishment of Gilead (and her promotion to a leadership role within Gilead) in the "Ardua Hall Holograph", a manuscript recorded in secret and planned for a far-greater purpose. Meanwhile, a privileged Handmaid named Agnes begins to receive illicit material revealing some of Gilead's oldest secrets, and "Baby Nicole", a famed teenager within Gilead society, learns that her purpose -- and lineage -- may be far greater than she realized.

* AerithAndBob: The Daughter of Gilead in Agnes' School. Among her classmates, there are Becka and Shunammite. While the Aunts pick their own names based off of products, their names can be as common as Elizabeth, Helena, and Victoria, to more uncommon, like Immortelle, Vidala, and Estèe.

Following in the footsteps of ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'', ''The Testaments'' is a 2019 follow-up, written by Creator/MargaretAtwood.

The novel, set 15 years after the ending of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', follows three narrators: an adopted daughter of a commander, a young woman observing Gilead from Canada, and [[DrillSergeantNasty Aunt Lydia]] of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', a founder and respected leader within the nation.

Unmarked Spoilers for ''The Handmaid's Tale'' ahead!

* FandomNod: Members of the terrorist resistance group Mayday now have a second password to identify themselves to each other: "June moon". This is presumably a reference to the couple of instances in the first novel where the word "June" is used in a significant context (and especially to the phrase "mooning and June-ing", used of Handmaids pining for their past lives), which led many readers to believe it was Offred's way of indirectly revealing her first name. (Atwood later revealed this wasn't her original intention, but she liked it enough to go with it, and it later became a case of AscendedFanon in the TV series.)

* WithFriendsLikeThese: Shunammite claims to be Agnes' "best friend" but only really uses her for status / convenience, and ditches her whenever Agnes falls out of favour with others.

* RealityEnsues: Given how many people in Gilead are executed for various sins as well as the low birth rate and Gilead's bad reputation, the population isn't growing. As a result, not only is Gilead trying to make itself look like a good destination for anyone in need of a refuge, they've also started the Pearl Girl initiative, wherein Pearl Girls are sent out of the country in pairs with the mission of finding a young woman and convincing her to come to Gilead.
** Gilead is a terrible country and Mayday are a group trying to bring that country down. However, at the end of the day, Gilead is still a ''country'' with lots of ties to other countries, and Mayday are a terrorist organisation. Therefore, Mayday is forced to operate covertly just to survive- and it's condemned by a lot of people, even with how bad Gilead is.

* ArrangedMarriage: The Daughters of Gilead can expect this. Marriages are arranged by parents and Aunts, with some "say" from the girls. [[spoiler:Averted by both Becka and Agnes as they becomes Supplicants, an Aunts-in-Training, to escape marriage.]]

* TheBluebeard: [[spoiler:Commander Judd constantly kills off his child-wives after he grows bored with them in order to find a new child-bride.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After a gruelling escape effort, [[spoiler:Agnes and Nicole manage to escape to Canada where they are suggested to have reunited with their mother and started families of their own. The intel they smuggle out eventually leads to the collapse of Gilead and allows for the re-establishment of the USA.]]

* LivingLegend: Aunt Lydia holds a lot of power in Gilead. Her picture is hanging everywhere and a statue of her stands outside the the Ardua Hall building. Her name is both revered and feared. Baby Nicole holds this title as well. It's been over a decade since her disappearance and many still pray for her return.

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler: Aunt Lydia]] never forgave the injustices she suffered at the hands of the Gilead regime. Add to that the disgust she feels at the festering corruption and immorality hiding underneath the pious and proper facade and you have more than enough reasons for her covert anti-Gilead campaign.

* NoNameGiven: The novel cleverly avoids ever having to reveal the real names of the characters from ''The Handmaid's Tale'', since the epilogue of the first novel claims most or all to be pseudonyms. Aunt Lydia's real first name is never revealed (it pretty certainly wasn't Lydia, since the Aunts change their names to those of pre-Gilead beauty and household products when they join the faction); nor is the original name of Agnes (who was presumably called something else before being snatched from her birth parents and forcibly adopted within Gilead). [[spoiler:Offred, Luke, Nick, and Commander Fred are all alluded to and/or make brief appearances, but without their real names being mentioned.]]

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Literature/TheBible is used to justify the treatment of the women in society. One story in particular in Judges, the Levite and his Concubine, is used in Agnes' school to teach women to be obedient. Agnes (a.k.a. Aunt Victoria) eventually discovers that the Bible doesn't say what those in power claim it says.

Following in the footsteps of ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'', ''The Testaments'' is a 2019 follow up, written by Creator/MargaretAtwood.

The novel, set 15 years after the Ending of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', follows three narrators: an adopted daughter of a commander, a young woman observing Gilead from Canada, and [[DrillSergeantNasty Aunt Lydia]] of ''The Handmaid's Tale'', a founder and respected leader within the nation.