Atwood is a bit of a secular saint of the liberal intelligentsia in Canada, and she could easily have sunk into smug satisfaction at her exalted status. Instead, she is both relentlessly creative, rarely repeating herself, and sternly productive, churning out book after fascinating book. I have been reading her stuff since a copy of "Survival" came my way back about 1974, and I look forward to "The Testaments" with interest.

One of her most interesting works is Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, the published version of her Massey Lectures series delivered in 2008 at the height (or depth) of the banking crisis. I recommend it to anyone interested in the philosophy that underpins her novels.