Margaret Atwood explores the ambiguous roots of women's relationships in her latest novel, which tells the story of a woman obsessed with memories of the past. Elaine Risley returns to Toronto to seek her elusive friend Cordelia, who was the cause of childhood cruelty and terror many years earlier. Margaret Atwood is a Canadian poet, writer and literary critic who has written six previous novels, the last of which, "The Handmaid's Tale", was shortlisted for the 1986 Booker Prize.