The Handmaid’s Tale

　　加拿大插畫家芮妮‧奈特(Renee Nault)，以豐富的水彩與水墨風格著稱。她的畫風如水中的光影，結合她喜愛的日本浮世繪，創造出一系列精緻、漂浮感十足、反覆堆疊的畫面，細膩地改編了瑪格麗特．愛特伍反烏托邦式的原著小說《使女的故事》。

　　奈特秉持原作精神，依照原始設定情節，讓敘述者歐芙蕾(Offred)躍然紙上：她住在基列共和國(Republic of Gilead)，一個看起來像是美國卻又難以辨別的地方。歐芙蕾仍懷念過去上班讀書、結交朋友的日子，但在新的社會制度下，一切都被禁止，她僅能服務於指揮官和他的夫人。政府控制著女性，以保護的名義除去她們的自由的權利，對年老或病重的女性，加以拋棄。整個世界，只關注新生兒勝於一切，由於生育率的下降，使女的價值僅在於能生產受孕。作為一個被迫作為代孕的女性，每月僅能祈求主人給予受孕的可能。

　　在此版本中，奈特運用水彩豐富的漸層，帶出使女們鮮紅的衣著，從鐵鏽斑駁痕跡到一閃即逝的火焰光影，甚至將懸掛的使女的形象比作一朵下垂的深紅花朵。透過奈特獨特的半抽象畫風，讀者更能強烈感受故事所散發的氛圍。即便是無景也無語的人物情緒，都能靠插畫相輔相成。基列共和國的詭譎氣氛，飽受戰亂的殖民風情，一覽無遺。

　　Provocative, startling, prophetic, and more relevant than ever, The Handmaid's Tale has become a global phenomenon. Now, in this stunning graphic novel edition of Margaret Atwood's modern classic, the terrifying reality of Gilead is brought to vivid life like never before.

　　"Everything Handmaids wear is red: the colour of blood, which defines us." Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. She serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, ecause in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if they are fertile. But Offred remembers the years before Gilead, when she was an independent woman who had a job, a family, and a name of her own. Now, her memories and her will to survive are acts of rebellion.

　　The Handmaid's Tale and its iconic images - the red of the Handmaids, the blue of the Wives, the looming ileadean Eye - have been adapted into a film, an opera, a ballet, and multi-award-winning TV series. This groundbreaking new graphic novel edition, adapted and featuring arresting artwork by Renée Nault, is destined to become a classic in its own right.

Review

　　"Atwood takes us into a modern Orwellian nightmare… This haunting novel now seems scarily prophetic. Bleakly compelling and chilling, but with a redemptive twist." (Rebecca Wallersteiner Lady)

　　"Four years in the making, this graphic novelisation by Atwood's fellow Canadian, illustrator Renée Nault, is strikingly visualised." (Bookseller)

About the Author

Margaret Atwood (Author)

　　Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam Trilogy. Her 1985 classic The Handmaid's Tale went back into the bestseller charts with the election of Donald Trump, when the Handmaids became a symbol of resistance against him; and the 2017 release of the award-winning Channel 4 TV series. Sales of the English language edition have now topped 8 million copies worldwide.

　　Atwood has won numerous awards including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Renée Nault (Illustrator)

　　Renée Nault is a Canadian artist known for her vivid and dreamlike illustrations in watercolour and ink. Her work has appeared in books, magazines, and graphic novels worldwide. She currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia.? Please visit www.reneenault.com.