Any fans of The Handmaid’s Tale who felt like Margaret Atwood’s story didn’t go far enough need to check out another, even bleaker, sci-fi dystopia from a similarly acclaimed author. While not every season of The Handmaid’s Tale works as well as the others, the show has done an impressive job of bringing author Margaret Atwood’s famous novel to life on-screen. The Handmaid’s Tale’s series finale might have been divisive, but its ambiguity was true to the unremittingly bleak outlook of Atwood’s book.

Viewers who want to see more from the world of Atwood’s dystopia can look forward to The Testaments, an upcoming series based on her sequel novel to The Handmaid’s Tale. However, this series isn’t the darkest speculative fiction novel to come from a highly acclaimed American author. There is another book based on a female protagonist’s story of escaping oppression in a futuristic American hellscape that is a perfect read for anyone who embraced the confronting brutality of The Handmaid’s Tale.

After Finishing The Handmaid’s Tale, Parable Of The Sower Makes A Great Follow-Up Read

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower Is Another Moving Sci-Fi Story

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is a 1993 dystopian fiction novel about a young woman navigating a post-apocalyptic America after the collapse of society results in widespread oppression and violence. Like most of the late, great Butler’s books, Parable of the Sower uses sci-fi tropes to interrogate a range of real-life social issues, from police brutality to misogyny. Set in 2024, Parable of the Sower is an epistolary novel written by Lauren Oya Olamina, a teenager who suffers from “Sharing,” an ability to involuntarily feel the emotions and pains of others.

As Lauren’s story continues, viewers get some insight into the bleak, brutal world she occupies. In Parable of the Sower, income inequality, climate change, and unchecked corporate power have resulted in an America where gated communities exist alongside nightmarish communities living in horrific poverty.

Parable Of The Sower Somehow Tells An Even More Harrowing Dystopian Story

Butler’s Tragic Plot Is Even More Brutal Than The Handmaid’s Tale

Although Lauren initially lives in a relatively safe community, life is still harsh and alienated. An authoritarian government hands over even more power to corporations and corrupt police ensure that society falls apart even further, eventually resulting in the destruction of Lauren’s community.

Like some of the main characters of The Handmaid’s Tale, Lauren attempts to use religion as a balm and eventually comes up with her own faith, “Earthseed,” to make sense of the horrors surrounding her.

When Lauren is forced to travel the hellscape of America armed only with this faith, she faces attacks from militarized police, violent criminals, and cannibals alike. However, Earthseed does carry her through and even manages to garner her a following. The Parable Of The Sower has a complex, morally ambiguous ending that seems hopeful at first glance, but receives more context in the book’s sequel, Parable of the Talents.

Octavia Butler’s Dystopian Book Deserves An Adaptation, Just Like The Handmaid’s Tale

The Parable Of The Sower Is Overdue A Screen Adaptation

Sadly, Butler’s untimely death meant that the planned trilogy was never finished. However, now that The Handmaid’s Tale is over, viewers may receive a screen adaptation of Parable of the Sower in the future. According to Deadline, a24 purchased the rights to Butler’s novel back in 2021 and Time director Garrett Bradley was set to direct an adaptation of the novel. Parable Of The Sower was intended to be a movie rather than a miniseries, and Bradley’s acclaimed documentary Time proves she could have been the perfect director for the job.

However, there have been no significant updates on the project since, meaning Parable Of The Sower may not reach screens anytime soon. The novel is a brutal, uncompromising book and Butler’s earlier adaptation, Kindred, was canceled after only one season, meaning the adaptation may struggle to find support. That said, if the harrowing story of The Handmaid’s Tale can sustain a successful multi-season series despite its intense content, Parable Of The Sower deserves the same treatment and a chance to find a new audience years after its author’s passing.