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• n  in a subordinate position
  theology should be the handmaiden of ethics
• n  a personal maid or female attendant

• Atwood's novel takes the form of the secret diary of the handmaid, Offred, named after the official to whom she is assigned.
• After all, Levine points out, the handmaid line does not follow immediately upon the angel's tidings that "thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and call his name .
• About the book: Set in a future America that has turned into an anti-feminist fascist state, the book tells the story of Kate, a handmaid who lives a life of sexual servitude but .

• handmaiden
• servant

News & Articles

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• Behold our mutant future in Margaret Atwood's 'MaddAddam'
  The dystopian novel 'MaddAddam' ends the trilogy that includes 'Oryx and Crake' and 'The Year of the Flood' with biblical echoes and a sense of humor. Sometimes Margaret Atwood can get a little goofy. I mean no disrespect to the author of "The Handmaid's Tale" — in fact, it's a good thing that she writes intelligent works of dystopian fiction with a sense of humor. Otherwise, the end of the ...
  Aug. 30, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

Quotes

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• Thomas Jefferson in Kansas City infoZine
  Jefferson said in his First Inaugural Speech that "the encouragement of agriculture and of commerce as its handmaid" was one of the "essential principles of government."