The Handmaid's Tale, #2
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Contents
70
Overview
Nicole and Agnes stagger ashore and are rescued by Ada and Garth, then airlifted to safety. As Nicole receives treatment, news breaks of the explosive document cache, challenging Gilead despite official denials. The sisters are publicly hailed, and they reunite emotionally with their mother, confirming their family bond.
Summary
Nicole recounts the near-fatal landing in darkness, stumbling over seaweed-slick rocks with a barely usable arm. Exhausted and delirious, Nicole hears Becka’s voice urging them uphill toward lights, while Agnes stays beside her and keeps them moving.
Voices from the clifftop spot them, and rescuers descend. Ada reaches them first, and Garth carries Nicole uphill past television cameras before she blacks out.
They are airlifted to the Campobello Refugee Medical Centre, where antibiotics reduce Nicole’s arm swelling. Agnes sits beside her, and Ada, Elijah, and Garth celebrate their survival.
Ada and Elijah report that the news is highlighting the sisters’ escape and the leaked document cache, which exposes extensive crimes by Gilead’s leadership. Elijah calls it the beginning of Gilead’s unraveling, while Garth notes Gilead’s counter-claim that it’s a Mayday fabrication.
Nicole, drifting in and out, asks after Becka; Agnes gently reminds her that Becka did not come with them, suggesting Nicole’s earlier hearing was a fevered hallucination.
Later, their mother arrives, emotional and relieved. She embraces both daughters, acknowledging they were too young to remember her. Nicole accepts the gap in memory, and Agnes vows she will remember, as Nicole drifts back to sleep.
Who Appears
- NicoleNarrator; survives a dangerous landing, rescued and treated; hailed by media; reunites with her mother.
- AgnesSupports Nicole during the climb; stays by her bedside; confirms Becka did not come; reunites with their mother.
- AdaLeads the beach rescue and welcomes the sisters; updates them on media coverage of the escape.
- GarthCarries Nicole from the beach; encourages her; comments on Gilead’s denial of the document cache.
- Their motherArrives at the hospital, emotional and relieved; embraces both daughters, affirming their family bond.
- ElijahExplains the explosive impact of the leaked documents and predicts the beginning of Gilead’s collapse.