The main story of “The Handmaid’s Tale” takes place in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel places the action in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic dictatorship formed after the United States government is overthrown.
More specifically, much of Offred’s life unfolds around the former Harvard Square neighborhood. The setting is significant because Cambridge represents learning, liberal institutions, and American history—values that Gilead has appropriated or destroyed. Harvard’s Widener Library also becomes associated with Gilead’s secret police in the novel.
Atwood drew on her familiarity with the area: she studied at Radcliffe College and spent time around Harvard. The story is sometimes loosely described as taking place in Boston because the television adaptation uses Boston and surrounding areas extensively, and Boston is a major location within Gilead. However, the novel’s central setting is Cambridge. The broader fictional country is not simply Massachusetts but a regime occupying much of what was once the United States.