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鈥淲HO would have thought that Gilead Studies 鈥� neglected for so many decades 鈥� would suddenly have gained so greatly in popularity?鈥� muses a fictional future historian in The Testaments, Margaret Atwood鈥檚 sequel to The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale.

It鈥檚 a tongue-in-cheek reflection of reality: some 34 years since The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale was published, the dystopian novel has had an unforeseen resurgence following a hit TV series, inspiring global protests about reproductive rights.

In the Republic of Gilead, a puritanical, theocratic society that has replaced the US, fertility rates are in free fall, after chemical and radiation exposure due to environmental damage. Birth defects and stillbirths (鈥淯nbabies鈥�) are common, and childhood cancer is rising.

To redress this, the eponymous Handmaids are farmed out to powerful men whose wives can鈥檛 have children, for the purposes of procreating. (Officially, male infertility doesn鈥檛 exist.) Abortion is outlawed, and doctors who have carried out the procedure are executed.

Set 15 years later, The Testaments introduces a generation of girls who have grown up within Gilead, including one of the book鈥檚 three narrators, Agnes Jemima. They are taught they are 鈥減recious flowers鈥� in a society where their worth is based on chastity and the ability to reproduce. Contrast this with a Canadian girl of the same generation, Daisy, for whom the piousness of Gilead is 鈥渨eird as fuck鈥�, the republic 鈥渁 terrible, terrible place, where women couldn鈥檛 have jobs or drive cars鈥�.

Aunt Lydia, one of Gilead鈥檚 female architects, returns as an unlikely subversive force, meting out a twisted form of retributive justice. She justifies her complicity in the regime as self-preservation 鈥� the rationalisation is reminiscent of Nazis invoking the plea of superior orders. 鈥淏etter to hurl rocks than to have them hurled at you. Or better for your chances of staying alive,鈥� Aunt Lydia reasons. (Atwood read the 鈥渧ery cheery鈥� diary of Joseph Goebbels in writing the book, she said at a press conference today.) The nexus of these experiences drives the plot, which is both taut and gratifying, if tidy.

The extreme incarnations of the oppressive society Atwood created seemed divorced from the liberal democracies of 1985 when The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale was published. But for Gilead鈥檚 antecedents, look elsewhere: combine Romania鈥檚 outlawing of birth control under Nicolae Ceau艧escu with the monolithic theocracy of Iran, while Guardians escorting Gilead鈥檚 women remind us of Saudi Arabia鈥檚 male guardianship laws.

In troubled political times, the line between fact and fiction becomes blurry. Since the election of Donald Trump 鈥� an impetus for renewed interest in the book 鈥� some US states have passed laws restricting the right to abortion. Meanwhile, fertility is dropping: in the past four decades, sperm counts in developed countries have fallen by more than half. And in July, the US Environmental Protection Agency said it wouldn鈥檛 ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that has been linked to nervous system damage in young children.

Like its predecessor, The Testaments also draws on current events. School-sanctioned marches in Canada call to mind climate strikes, as young protesters hold signs reading: 鈥淕ILEAD, CLIMATE SCIENCE DE-LIAR! GILEAD WANTS US TO FRY!鈥�

Atwood also wryly inverts the dynamics of US immigration politics. Gileadean refugees cross the Canadian border, smuggled via the Underground Femaleroad. They become the refugees that Italy, Germany and even New Zealand are unwilling to accept.

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At the heart of the novel is the power of narrative itself 鈥� of who gets to speak and to listen, of the ability of information to limit, control or expand a world. 鈥淜nowledge is power, especially discreditable knowledge,鈥� writes Aunt Lydia. 鈥淟oose lips sink ships,鈥� several characters repeat. 鈥淟east said, soonest mended,鈥� is another recurring adage.

A regime鈥檚 official story, argues The Testaments, rarely aligns with reality. Autocracies can be built on controlled narratives, but in the end, truth can still destroy.