Ashenhurst said the impetus to put down the shaver for a month came in the form of a message to Anderson from Hailey Aderman, regional director of special events for Special Olympics Wisconsin. â
Definition of handmaiden. 1  1 : a personal maid or female servant. 2  2 : something whose essential function is to serve or assist criticism is not the enemy of art but rather its handmaiden â Gary Michael.
Instead, this novel could be classified as terrifying, bleak, and cruel and unusual. It could also be classified as science-fictionâand was. The Handmaid's Tale, a best-selling book first published in 1985, was marketed as a sci-fi horror story. After all, it takes place in a scary vision of a dystopian future, kind of like Brave New World, 1984, or even The Hunger Games.