Margaret Atwood reveals how a thief nearly derailed 'The Testaments' before its release

Margaret Atwood is revealing a shocking behind-the-scenes scare that nearly disrupted the release of her bestselling novel The Testaments, involving a manuscript thief and a near-disastrous mistake.

According to People, Atwood shared in her memoir Book of Lives that while working on the highly anticipated sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, publishers were dealing with a growing threat: a scammer impersonating industry professionals to steal unpublished manuscripts.

To protect the book, extreme secrecy measures were put in place. The manuscript was even shared under a fake title, “The Casements by Victoria Lockett”, and distributed through secure channels to avoid detection.

But the situation took a dramatic turn when Atwood accidentally left her laptop, containing the manuscript, on a plane. The incident sparked immediate panic given the high-profile nature of the project and the ongoing theft attempts. Fortunately, airline staff were able to recover the device before any damage was done.

Despite the close call, The Testaments was ultimately published in 2019 under tight security and went on to become a major success, later winning the Booker Prize and expanding the world of Gilead for a new generation of readers.

Atwood’s revelation highlights just how vulnerable major literary projects can be before publication and the extraordinary lengths publishers sometimes go to in order to keep them safe.