In Atwood’s funniest novel in ages, two women have survived a pandemic, one barricaded in a beauty salon, the other sequestered in an endangered-species-themed strip club. In flashbacks, we learn they’re both members of an environmentalist group called “God’s Gardeners,” which doubles as an ecoterrorist cell. Always a brilliant social satirist, Atwood lovingly parodies Christian idealism—or does she embrace it?—while offering a sneaky feminist take on dystopia: The Road as hen party.

From The Village Voice, “The Best Books of 2009.”