Margaret Atwood spoke about attempts to steal the manuscript for the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale

Internet scammers tried to steal an unpublished manuscript of The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. This BBC said the author of the works, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood.

According to her, she received phishing emails, the purpose of which was to gain access to the manuscript. “They really wanted to steal it, and we had to use a lot of code words and passwords,” Atwood said.

In her opinion, the scammers wanted to get The Testaments in order to blackmail her or to put the manuscript on the Internet before the September 10 publication date of the novel.

• The Handmaid's Tale was released in 1985 and has since become one of the most famous dystopian novels. In 2017, the book was based on the TV series of the same name, which received five Emmy awards and two Golden Globes.
• In November 2018, Margaret Atwood announced a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. The story in the new novel will be conducted on behalf of three heroines, and the action will unfold 15 years after the events of the first part.