The Handmaid's Tale

Review from Library Journal:

In a startling departure from her previous novels (Lady Oracle , Surfacing), respected Canadian poet and novelist Atwood presents here a fable of the near future. In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right Schlafly/Falwell-type ideals have been carried to extremes in the mono-theocratic government. The resulting society is a feminist's nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit'' Wives. The tale is told by Offred (read: "of Fred''), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be.