Margaret Atwood novel due out in September

Atwood is arguably best known for The Handmaid's Tale.

Margaret Atwood's first stand-alone novel in 15 years will be published this September.

The Heart Goes Last is Atwood's first novel, outside of the trilogy which encompassed Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and 2013's MaddAddam.

Bloomsbury's Alexandra Pringle said the new novel combined "the powerful irony of The Handmaid's Tale with the wicked playfulness of The Edible Woman".

"This is Margaret Atwood at the tip top of her form."

The novel - to be published on 24 September - is set in the near future where lawful people are locked up while lawless people roam free, according to The Bookseller.

A new collection of short stories - Stone Mattress - will also be published, by Virago, on the same day.

Canadian author Atwood remains best known for The Handmaid's Tale, published in 1985.

Shortlisted five times for the Booker Prize for novels including Cat's Eye and Alias Grace, she won in 2000 for The Blind Assassin.

She is also a prolific poet and short story writer, and the author of eight children's books.

Last year it was reported that director Darren Aronofsky was bringing Atwood's trilogy to the small screen - under the title MaddAddam - in conjunction with HBO.