A novel by MargaretAtwood . The blurb says: _In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies?_ _Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable._ _Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...._ _Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force._ It is one of the classic examples of SF works which the mainstream likes, but which, along with the author, it denies is SF. See: - dmoz:/Arts/Literature/World_Literature/Canadian/Authors/Novelists/Atwood,_Margaret/Works/Handmaid%27s_Tale,_The/ - http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/handmaid.html - http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/atwood157-des-.html - http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/handmaid/ - http://www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/handmaidstale_bgc.html - http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/handmaids_tale.asp - http://www.students.haverford.edu/wmbweb/writings/bchandmaid.html - http://cityhonors.buffalo.k12.ny.us/city/rsrcs/eng/auth/atwhan.html - http://www.epinions.com/book_mu-2278756/display_~reviews _Some of these links may not be as good as the others; please feel free to weed out any which aren't up to scratch._ "It is one of the classic examples of SF works which the mainstream likes, but which, along with the author, it denies is SF." - We need a name for this kind of thing! _SpeculativeFiction. Pure and simple. --TL_ I was after a name for the phenomenon where the mundanes deny that a work of SF is SF because they like it. _GenreDenialSyndrome?_ --WJR This is _brilliant_ and thanks for it.--SDN CategoryBook