Bright, sharp and humorous satire about human nature – a continuation of world-famous work Maid’s Tale (Handmaid’s Tale, 1985). Written in the unique style of Margaret Atvuda, this is a book that is a pure pleasure to read. Enjoyment and worry at the same time, of course. As the name suggests, Witnesses written as testimonies of several women about the experience of Gilead. “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes,” writes Margaret Atvuda and shows the motives of their actions through the hidden thoughts of the heroes of the novel.
The book tells its stories about the charming monster, Gilead’s support Aunt Lydia, the naive and heartfelt Beck and the rebellious Daisy, the determined and courageous Agnese, creating a comprehensive impression of life in another totalitarian society, this time created only by the writer’s imagination. What are the characteristics of those people who are able to survive in the most difficult conditions? What are the permissible compromises that leave a person to himself, and where is the border that must not be crossed? What makes a person a personality – and what about a screw without will and reason? The question that, reading from time to time, slips into the periphery of consciousness is: and what would hardly be our decisions if we ended up in a place like Gilead?
Despite the difficult theme, Margaret Atvuda writes easily and vigorously, allowing the reader to enjoy Gilead’s peculiar life and the struggles of its inhabitants for power and influence, while at the same time relieved to rejoice that it is not true. “Margaret Atvuda is a writer with a flexible mind and a brilliant fantasy, and happy is the reader who allows the author to take her hand and take her deeper and deeper into the mysterious and captivating maze of every novel in her,” writes translator Silvia Brice.
And this novel also provides an answer to the question: what happened to Zemfred?
Margaret Atvuda (1939) is the author of more than 50 works of fiction – novels, poetry and literary critique essays – and has received many literary awards, including the Bucker Prize, Artur Č. The Clark Prize, the Franca Kafka Prize, the German Booksellers’ Union Peace Prize, and the US PEN Club Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
An e-book is also available.
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