The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood

In this fable about the near future, Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead (formerly known as the United States).   She lives in a dystopian theocracy where women no longer have control over their own bodies – they are not allowed to read, hold a job, have a name or own money.  They are assigned to a class of women – either chaste wives, housekeeping Marthas or reproductive Handmaids.  And, what makes this even worse, she can still remember when she was married to a man she loved, played with her daughter and had a productive job!