MARGARET ATWOOD
(CHATTO & WINDUS, 432PP, £20)
Tablet bookshop price £18 • tel 020 7799 4064

I taught The Handmaid’s Tale 30 years ago, before 9/11. Before Trump’s wall. The students didn’t think it was prophetic, just very good sci-fi.

Times change. The Handmaid’s awful bonnet is iconic. No more saying “it can’t happen here”. Now we need to know that this monstrous regime will crumble. Because it must, surely?

Not necessarily, says Atwood. “There are no sure-fire formulas, since very little in history is inevitable.”

So this Booker-shortlisted sequel has a different thrust. The cover offers the first clue – look at the cloak and suddenly it’s a ponytailed woman, arms open. Look at the pen nib – it’s also a fist.