every sundayjust to remind us that they were there. and you were writing the handmaid's tale in berlin at that time and that atmosphere, that — that sense of difference was then feeding into the words that you were writing? yeah. more, more through actually visiting those places. so, we went to, east germany — that was easy for us, we were canadians. then there was czechoslovakia. fairly tightly sewed up but you can talk to people, as long as you went into a field. and then, there was poland, which was already pretty loosey—goosey. so, those experiences of talking to people who had to be very careful about what they said, and you had to be very careful about what you repeated. it was veryjohn le carre. er, the whole thing, very familiar. so, that's creating an atmosphere, i presume, in the narrative? yes. that sense of a repressive society. and you have orwell,