Bodily Harm - by Margaret Atwood (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.

Book Synopsis

From the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments - By turns satiric, thrilling, and terrifying, Bodily Harm charts the dark currents of the lust for power--both sexual and political--as it builds to a devastating climax.

Rennie Wilford is a journalist who writes about the latest trends and considers herself an expert on the superficial surfaces of life.

When her own life takes a dark turn, she seeks to recuperate by flying to the Caribbean to research a fluffy travel piece. But her carelessly chosen destination, the tiny island of St. Antoine, is on the verge of a violent revolution and Rennie soon finds herself ensnared in a world of corruption and treachery and unsure whom to trust.

Review Quotes

"Succeeds in mingling a considerable amount of humor . . . with the malevolent shadows of politics and history." --The Boston Globe

"Superior writing, terrifying suspense." --The Atlantic Monthly

"It knocked me out. Margaret Atwood seems to be able to do just about everything: people, places, problems, a perfect ear, an exactly right voice--and she tosses off terrific scenes with a casualness that leaves you utterly unprepared for the way these scenes seize you." --Anatole Broyard, The New York Times

About the Author

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade.

Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.