--- title: Emma Watson Is Hiding The Handmaid's Tale Books description: The 'Beauty and the Beast' actress is distributing free copies of Margaret Atwood's dystopian feminist novel around Paris. canonical: https://time.com/4826549/emma-watson-handmaids-tale-books/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-21T15:57:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:44.492Z og:title: Emma Watson Is Hiding a Very Buzzy Book in Paris og:description: The belle of the book club is at it again — with 'The Handmaid's Tale' og:url: https://time.com/4826549/emma-watson-handmaids-tale-books/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emma Watson Is Hiding a Very Buzzy Book in Paris twitter:description: The belle of the book club is at it again — with 'The Handmaid's Tale' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Belle of the Book Club Emma Watson Is Back to Her Novel-Hiding Ways With _The Handmaid's Tale_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 21, 2017 3:57 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 21, 2017 3:57 PM UTC Bookworms, fear not: dauntless [Emma Watson](http://time.com/4695578/emma-watson-free-books-international-womens-day/) is continuing to carry the torch of reading with her global literary initiative. This time, she’s hiding copies of Margaret Atwood’s [_The Handmaid’s Tale_](http://time.com/4747102/margaret-atwood-time-100-handmaids-tale/) in mysterious locations around Paris, according to an update she posted on Twitter (in both English and French, of course). Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel has been [experiencing a resurgence](http://time.com/4759957/handmaids-tale-book-vs-show-differences/) in popularity thanks to a dramatic and critically-lauded television adaptation of the dystopian story, starring [Elisabeth Moss](http://time.com/4732788/handmaids-tale-review/). So it only makes sense that Watson, an avid reader and [women’s rights advocate](http://time.com/4770182/emma-watson-mtv-awards-best-actor-genderless-categories/), would be on board with spreading the book’s message far and wide through her stealthy book-hiding techniques, which have been [well-documented](http://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/) over the course of the last year. _The Handmaid’s Tale_ is also, conveniently, the month’s selection of her online book club [Our Shared Shelf](https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179584-our-shared-shelf). Watson may have left playing Hermione in her youth, but she can’t seem to kick that reading habit. Not that fans are complaining. > [](https://twitter.com/EmmaWatson/status/877517498836541442) And some of the copies are already getting discovered. > [](https://twitter.com/the%5Fbookfairies/status/877533109931188224) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4826549/emma-watson-handmaids-tale-books/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4826549/emma-watson-handmaids-tale-books/"},"headline":"Belle of the Book Club Emma Watson Is Back to Her Novel-Hiding Ways With The Handmaid's Tale","datePublished":"2017-06-21T15:57:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:44.492Z","description":"The 'Beauty and the Beast' actress is distributing free copies of Margaret Atwood's dystopian feminist novel around Paris.","url":"https://time.com/4826549/emma-watson-handmaids-tale-books/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Books","Emma Watson"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4826549/emma-watson-handmaids-tale-books/","name":"Belle of the Book Club Emma Watson Is Back to Her Novel-Hiding Ways With The Handmaid's Tale"}}]}] ```