Who is the author of 'The Testaments'?

"The Testaments" is a novel by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, published in September 2019. It is the sequel to her famous dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985).

About the novel:

• It is set about 15 years after the events of "The Handmaid's Tale", in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian religious state that has replaced part of the United States, where women have almost no rights.
• It is told through the testimonies of three women: Aunt Lydia, a powerful figure in Gilead; Agnes, a young woman raised inside Gilead; and Daisy, a girl living in Canada.
• Their stories gradually come together and show how the regime begins to collapse from within.

The 2019 Booker Prize:

"The Testaments" won the Booker Prize in 2019, jointly with "Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo. The judges broke the prize rules, which say the award should not be shared.

Atwood, then aged 79, became the oldest winner of the Booker Prize.

About Margaret Atwood:

• She was born in 1939 in Ottawa, Canada.
• She has written novels, poetry, short stories and essays.
• Her other famous works include "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985), "Cat's Eye" (1988), "Alias Grace" (1996), "The Blind Assassin" (2000, which won the Booker Prize) and the "MaddAddam" trilogy.
• "The Handmaid's Tale" was made into a popular television series (2017-2025).

Other well-known women writers:

• Hilary Mantel (UK): won the Booker twice, for "Wolf Hall" (2009) and "Bring Up the Bodies" (2012).
• Alice Munro (Canada): short story writer; Nobel Prize in Literature (2013).
• Bernardine Evaristo (UK): "Girl, Woman, Other"; the first Black woman to win the Booker Prize.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Hilary Mantel wrote "Wolf Hall".
• ✗Alice Munro was a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in 2013.
• ✗Bernardine Evaristo shared the 2019 Booker Prize with Atwood, but she wrote "Girl, Woman, Other".