The Heart Goes Last

Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last is a work of speculative fiction released in 2015. The novel is a reworking of her Positron series for the website Byliner: four interconnected stories that were digitally released as episodes over the course of a year, starting in March 2012. The project aimed to recapture the literary tradition of serialization, but the final installment was never released, and the novel is intended to bring things together and provide the conclusion. Like Atwood’s other major works of speculative fiction, The MaddAddam Trilogy (2003-2013) and The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), The Heart Goes Last takes real-world events, movements, or ideas and takes them to their dystopian conclusion. The novel follows a young married couple, Stan and Charmaine, as they attempt to navigate a devastating financial crash that sees them lose everything. Their salvation appears in the form of the Positron Project, which promises them steady work, a home, and a safe community in exchange for much of their freedom. The bizarre and almost surreal plot that follows explores themes of love and obsession, free will, and the destructive greed that plagues capitalist societies.

This guide uses the McClelland & Stewart eBook edition.