Books like “The Handmaid's Tale”

What to read after “The Handmaid's Tale” by Margaret Atwood: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell · 1949
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia” and “Creeping Dread”
In the totalitarian superstate of Oceania, every thought and word is watched. Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting the past, until he starts a diary and a secret affair. His small rebellion against a system that controls reality itself slowly closes in around him.
2
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Unreliable Narrator
Kathy, Tommy and Ruth grow up together at an English boarding school where the children are treated as special and kept apart from the world. As adults they learn what they were made for, and try to hold on to love and dignity in a life they cannot choose. A quiet, sad speculative novel.
3
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin · 1924
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
In the glass city of OneState, citizens live by a strict timetable and are known only by numbers. When the mathematician D-503 begins to keep a private journal, a woman named I-330 draws him into a movement that wants to tear down the walls of the ordered world.
4
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury · 1953
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a future where reading is a crime and screens fill every quiet moment. After a young neighbour asks him whether he is happy, curiosity makes him hide a book of his own, and he begins to question everything his job stands for.
5
Anthem
Ayn Rand · 1938
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
In a future run by the collective, the word I has no meaning and all work is done for the good of all. Equality 7-2521 breaks the rules by doing forbidden research and falling in love, then flees a society that cannot allow an individual to exist.
6
The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
After a disease kills most American children, the survivors develop dangerous powers and are locked in government camps. Sixteen-year-old Ruby escapes and joins a group of runaways searching for a safe haven, while learning the cost of her own abilities.
7
Divergent
Veronica Roth · 2011
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
In a city divided into five factions, Beatrice Prior learns she does not belong to any of them. Choosing the warrior Dauntless, she hides her divergence while uncovering a plot that threatens everyone, and finds herself drawn to an instructor named Four.
8
Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler · 1993
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In a near-future California wrecked by drought and lawlessness, a teenage girl who feels the pain of others builds a new belief while her walled neighbourhood falls apart. She leads a small group north, looking for land and for something to hold on to.
9
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood · 2003
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Unreliable Narrator
A man called Snowman may be the last human left, living in a tree above a ruined city and watching over a gentle new species. Through his memories the reader learns how his brilliant friend Crake and the woman they both loved brought the world to its end.
10
Uglies
Scott Westerfeld · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
- Rebellion
In a future where everyone turns pretty at sixteen through surgery, fifteen-year-old Tally longs for the operation. When her friend runs away instead, Tally is sent to find her, and learns what the surgery and the society that demands it really cost.
11
The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi · 2009
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In a flooded, calorie-poor Bangkok kept alive by genetic engineering, an American trader hunts for lost seed banks while a manufactured woman bred as a servant tries to survive. Their paths cross with corporate enforcers and a city about to boil over.
12
The Chrysalids
John Wyndham · 1955
Similar atmosphere: “Dystopia”
- Dystopia
In a post-nuclear Labrador, communities destroy deformed crops and animals and kill, sterilize or banish people who do not match the true form. A boy who can speak with his mind hides his gift among friends, until discovery forces them to flee toward a fabled safe place.