Atwood went back to Gilead more than thirty years after The Handmaid’s Tale and told it from three women inside the system rather than one woman subjected to it. Aunt Lydia is the reason to read it.
The first book worked because Offred could not see past the walls of her own room. This one trades that claustrophobia for how the regime actually runs, who compromises, and what it costs them. You lose some dread and gain the machinery.
I read both back to back in February 2022, which I would recommend. The pair works better than either on its own.
