About The Original Handmaid
The Original Handmaid is inspired by an ancient Mesopotamian legend, told for the first time by the women at its center—Amata, a gifted weaver, and Sati, her young handmaid.
When a royal messenger knocks on fifteen-year-old Amata’s door and invites her to weave for the temple priestess, she thinks her dreams have come true. But it’s 1800 BCE in a walled city beside the Euphrates, and her father has different plans. Within weeks she’s married off to a man who betrays her. Desperate to avoid the poverty of divorce or second-wife status, Amata must summon the courage to stand up to her husband when he threatens the life of a loved one—or lose everyone and everything she cherishes.