Elisabeth Moss to narrate The Handmaid's Tale audiobook

The audio edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale will be narrated by Elisabeth Moss, who starred as Offred in the television series, it has been announced.

Moss recorded the audiobook in Toronto while shooting season three of the show. The Penguin Random House Audio will be published as a digital download on 30th April, with the CD following on 7th May, ahead of publication of The Testaments (Chatto & Windus), the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, on 10th September.

It will be supported by Penguin Random House Audio’s biggest ever marketing and publicity campaign, including a stunt at Jubilee Square in Brighton on 4th May with listening stations for the public to hear extracts from the narration.

Atwood said: “I am delighted that Elisabeth Moss has agreed to narrate this new audio edition of The Handmaid’s Tale. Her reading is powerful, haunting, compelling, and authentic. She is a natural actor who values the truth of a role above her own star quality. I have been so lucky to have had her interpreting Offred.”

Contributing to the "Historical Notes" section of the audiobook are a number of other actors who appear in the TV series. Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia, narrates the opening of the notes, with Amy Landecker and Bradley Whitford narrating the transcript that confirms the demise of Gilead but leaves the end of Offred’s story ambiguous.

Alice Twomey, editor at Penguin Random House Audio said: “Elisabeth Moss is the perfect narrator for this audiobook. Elisabeth mesmerised audiences around the world with her award-winning performance in the television series of The Handmaid’s Tale and now her stunning narration has brought Offred’s story brilliantly, and chillingly, to life in audio. It is a truly powerful listen.”