Where to Get Started Reading Emily St. John Mandel

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...