The Heart Goes Last: A New Novel From Margaret Atwood

Atwood is also celebrated for her contributions to the Canadian literary community, including being a co-founder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a non-profit organization that promotes and celebrates Canadian writers and writing. She was also a founding trustee of the Griffin Poetry Prize, the world’s largest prize for a first edition single collection of poetry written in English.
The Heart Goes Last will be another of Atwood’s dystopian-edged novels, described by the publisher as being ‘as visionary as The Handmaid’s Tale.’ The plot follows Stan and Charmaine, a married couple living in the not-so-distant future, living in their car and subsisting on odd jobs. They come across the Positron Project in the town of Consilience, which provides participants with a comfortable home and stable jobs, which seems to be a perfect solution.

There is a catch, however: every second month they are required to give up their freedom and live in a prison cell. During their imprisoned absence, their ‘Alternates’ — another couple participating in the project — occupy their suburban home. As their lives start to become entangled with their ‘Alternates,’ a web of romance, deception, and danger is created — all conveyed with Atwood’s characteristic dry humor and vividly imagined characters.
The Heart Goes Last might sound familiar to some keen readers because Atwood previously distributed a few sections of the Positron Series on Byliner, a now-defunct, short-form e-book publishing platform. The new book will expand on the story that was produced electronically.

As readers know from The Handmaid’s Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy, Atwood is capable of creating projections of the future that seem all too plausible because their features are mirrored uncomfortably in the present that we think we know. With The Heart Goes Last, fans can expect another thought-provoking and incisive, disturbing yet entertaining read, knowing that they are in Atwood’s expert storytelling hands.