I first got lost in the mesmerizing world of an Emily St. John Mandel book when I read Station Eleven in 2021, back when we were still adjusting to life amidst COVID-19. It was cathartic to read a pandemic story during a pandemic. Mandel’s beautiful, affecting writing moved me in ways that left behind a permanent impression.
It’s been four years since her last release, but we’re finally getting a new book from the author. Emily St. John Mandel’s highly anticipated book, Exit Party, publishes on September 15th. It’s a book her U.S. editor, Jenny Jackson, describes as “heady and intellectually rigorous, but poignant and emotional,” noting the “incredibly high EQ that permeates Emily’s books.”
This is exactly how I’d describe Emily St. John Mandel’s works. They’re nebulous, deep, and emotive. There’s a puzzling quality to them as Mandel weaves together threads of different characters, timelines, and genres. They make you think, but something I like as much or even more than that, they make you feel. Her books touch upon human nature and the meaning of life in ways that feel deeply true. They offer windows into peculiar possibilities of interconnected worlds and parallel timelines. Her books stay with you.
At the public library where I work, I listened to a Library Journal webinar where Emily St. John Mandel spoke about Exit Party, describing it as a standalone that can be read without reading her other books, but that does share connections with them. “There are, in fact, threads running through all seven of her books (look out for fedoras!),” says Ellen Morgan of Pan Macmillan. “If you’re a reader who loves finding interconnections and literary Easter eggs, you may want to read her books in order of publication, but they are just as enjoyable taken as standalone novels.”
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With this in mind, what is the best way to start reading Emily St. John Mandel’s books? I’ve created a reading pathway to use as a guide. Whether you’re new to her writing or still working through her backlist, this list is for you. It will help you get acquainted with her work and get a sense for her as a writer, from the post-apocalyptic classic that catapulted her career to her earlier work.
A Guide to Emily St. John Mandel Books
Station Eleven
If you’re reading Emily St. John Mandel for the first time, I would suggest starting with her post-apocalyptic classic, Station Eleven. Once you’ve read this novel, you’ll want to read them all. Station Eleven can trigger an investment in Mandel’s writing style that will give you the drive to read her subsequent novels, no matter how abstract and heavy they can feel at times.
This powerful story melds together themes of trauma, love, loss, theater, art, and humanity. Its many accolades include getting selected as a National Book Award finalist and winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Between its pages, Mandel follows a cast of characters forward and backward in time through the beginning of a devastating pandemic and its aftermath. When Kirsten Raymonde witnesses one of her castmates die on stage during a production of King Lear in Toronto, she’ll find her life shifting in unimaginable ways as the Georgia Flu spreads at an alarming rate.
Next, Check Out…
The Singer’s Gun
This intriguing novel is Emily St. John Mandel’s second published book. While all of her earlier works are worth reading, I find this one of particular interest as it features a character named Ari Waker who later turns up as the ex-con protagonist of Exit Party. The Singer’s Gun stars Anton Waker, who’s had a troubled youth on the outskirts of the law: his parents worked with stolen goods and his first job involved helping his cousin Aria sell forged documents. Ready for a fresh start, Anton becomes a middle manager of a company only to find escaping his shady past may be harder than he realized.
After That, Visit…
The Glass Hotel
This next book published after Station Eleven. Like The Singer’s Gun, it also involves companies enmeshed in less-than-legal operations. I especially loved the setting of the breathtaking yet melancholic glass hotel on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. While working as a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, Vincent meets wealthy businessman Jonathan Alkaitis. As she gets drawn into his orbit, she’ll later navigate the fallout of his international Ponzi scheme. The ripple effect of its collapse will touch a number of lives around the world and connect back to the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a container ship.
Mandel also brushes against themes of fractured timelines and parallel realities that make this novel a compelling appetizer to her subsequent books, Sea of Tranquility and Exit Party.
Tie Them All Together With…
Sea of Tranquility
We normally try to cap out Reading Pathway posts at just three titles, but the interconnectness of Emily St. John Mandel’s books make a fourth pick a must. This book came out in 2022 and is Mandel’s most recently published book. It offers a perfect bridge to read before Exit Party as it delves further into the realm of multiple timelines and the questioning of reality. Once again Mandel introduces you to a range of characters, this time spanning various time periods. Among them, you’ll meet an exile from England sent to the Canadian wilderness in 1912, an author on a book tour during a pandemic 200 years later, and a curious detective living in a city on the Moon and investigating a strange connection between them all.
A Few Final Thoughts
Once you’re done reading these four books by Emily St. John Mandel, I highly recommend returning to her backlist and reading Last Night in Montreal and The Lola Quartet before venturing on to Exit Party. Every book by her is fantastic and well worth the read. Perhaps as you read each one, you’ll discover the hidden slivers (or perhaps fedoras?) that tie them all together.
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