Margaret Atwood must have thought that, in these trying times, we needed a happy ending to the Handmaid's Tale. In this sequel, the book revolves around the writings of three characters: Aunt Lydia (with a different backstory than the TV show), and June Osborne's daughters. They tell their stories, Aunt Lydia from the fall of the US and the rise of Gilead, Agnes, from her early childhood in Gilead, and Nicole, from her adolescence in Canada where she was smuggled from Gilead while a baby (the famed Baby Nicole). Aunt Lydia is shown as less a true believer than in the show, but more cynical and ruthless, and just as evil. Gilead is a pile of rot, as is any theocracy.
This is a page turner and a gripping tale.