The Handmaid's Tale, #2
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Contents
31
Overview
Ada and Garth covertly move Nicole to a Carpitz safehouse, where Elijah keeps her identity hidden. Ada reveals how Baby Nicole was smuggled out of Gilead and that Nicole’s parents remain underground but follow her life in secret. News of the bombing stalls, Aunt Adrianna’s murder inflames tensions, and Gilead blames Mayday. Elijah ensures Nicole’s disappearance isn’t reported, tightening operational security.
Summary
Nicole wakes in darkness with Ada and a new handler, Garth, who readies a disguised “Speedy Drain Snaking” van. Garth insists on covering up, and Ada and Nicole ride in back among tools and a mattress, beginning another covert move.
As they travel, Nicole presses Ada about her original escape from Gilead. Ada explains Baby Nicole was carried north by trusted friends through Vermont’s woods, sedated to keep quiet, then taken across to Canada via Trois-Rivières. Ada frames it within older cross-border trafficking routes and her own “mixed” heritage of stealer and stolen.
Nicole asks about her parents. Ada says both remain deeply underground and have survived attempts on the mother’s life; they avoided contact to protect Nicole. Despite Nicole’s anger, Ada reveals her mother secretly received and then burned clandestine photos of Nicole that Ada couriered, so Gilead could never see them.
The group arrives at Carpitz, a carpet wholesaler with a hidden backroom operation. Inside, only Garth knows Nicole’s identity. Garth brings food, and in a cubicle with Elijah and Ada they watch news: authorities waffle on the Clothes Hound bombing, protests are small, and Gilead denies involvement.
Another report announces Aunt Adrianna, a Pearl Girls missionary, was found hanged; police suspect homicide. Gilead publicly blames Mayday and pressures Canadian authorities. Nicole struggles with grief and anger over Melanie and Neil, while Elijah confirms he has prevented her school from reporting her missing, maintaining cover.
Who Appears
- Nicole (Daisy/Baby Nicole)Hidden in transit to a safehouse; learns details of her Gilead escape and parents’ secrecy; identity kept covert.
- AdaHandler and protector; organizes transport; recounts smuggling Baby Nicole and couriering photos to Nicole’s mother.
- GarthYoung operative; transports Nicole in a disguised van and supplies food at the Carpitz safehouse.
- ElijahMayday ally at Carpitz; keeps Nicole’s identity secret and prevents her school from reporting her missing.
- Aunt AdriannaPearl Girls missionary reported murdered on the news, intensifying Gilead’s accusations against Mayday.