Louise Canova is insecure about her appearance and style choices, unhappy with her life and empty marriage. She needs help… and she finds it in a second-hand copy of A Guide to Elegance. This slim volume by formidable French fashion expert Madame Dariaux promises to transform even the plainest of women into creatures of poise and grace. Louise vows to take the advice in this ABC of fashion and etiquette to heart, and gets to work straightaway – determined to become the woman she has always wanted to be.

The United States have become the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime where women have no rights, their every move is being watched and a strict dress code is enforced. Offred dresses in red, except for her white “wings”. She is a handmaid, her main role in life to bear children for the couple she has been assigned to. This is her chilling story.