We were thrilled to announce that bestselling, Booker prize-winning author Margaret Atwood was with us at Mainstreet on Wed 23rd September. She discussed her wickedly funny and deeply disturbing new novel, The Heart Goes Last, about a near future in which the lawful are locked up and the lawless roam free. The event was chaired by BBC Producer, Serena Fields.

Living in their car, on next to nothing, Charmaine and Stan are in a desperate state. So, when they see an advertisement for Consilience, a ‘social experiment’ offering stable jobs and a home of their own, they sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month – swapping their home for a prison cell. In The Heart Goes Last, she is at her razor-sharp, edgy and poignant best. Combining the dark irony of The Handmaid’s Tale with the wit and playfulness of The Edible Woman, this is Margaret Atwood at the top of her form.

“Margaret Atwood is the quiet Mata Hari, the mysterious, violent figure… who pits herself against the ordered, too clean world like an arsonist” Michael Ondaatje

Margaret was incredible and it was an evening that we will never forget.