Station Eleven, like many recent post-apocalyptic texts, enjoys the support of global events. That is, its reality seems increasingly more likely as doomsday stories feature in the news, medical pandemics emerge, and climate change looms over everyday life. However, unlike many of these narratives, which focus on the dystopian elements of society’s decline or on the harsh struggle that immediately follows the collapse of the civilized world, Station Eleven has its eye on the human aspects of a new world. Relationships that form, human endeavours and struggles, new families, new life, are each explored and considered within the context of a cold and barren world where modern society has broken down but where the characters manage to remain human and connected. While still a classic end of world novel, Station Eleven shares its base with stories like Cormack McCarthy’s The Road or Robert C. O’Brien’s Z for Zachariah. It asks the reader to consider the importance of culture and art and the interwoven nature of humanity rather than simply survival.

Emily St. John Mandel’s fourth novel starts ‘in medias res’, that is, ‘into the middle of things’, and explores two time periods: before and after the catastrophic ‘Georgia Flu’ which causes the end of the world as we know it. On the night of the devastation, prior to the outbreak, during a performance of King Lear at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada, attention is given to a small circle of characters who are connected to the lead actor, Arthur Leander. Following the outbreak, the post-pandemic world is reduced to pockets of survivors. Mandel tracks these various groups, their links to each other and to the now deceased Arthur Leander. The fictional flu is swift in scope and devastation, killing most of the population.

The novel opens with the pivotal scene, an audience watching King Lear, when a young trainee paramedic, Jeevan, notices Arthur Leander having a heart attack. He leaps to the stage and begins an attempt to revive Arthur. As the curtain is drawn and doctors rush to assist, Jeevan withdraws from the scene and comforts a child actor, Kirsten Raymonde. Arthur dies on stage doing what he loved and although this seems tragic at the time, his death pales in significance to the imminent pandemic which will leave those on stage and in the audience dead within three weeks.

The story continues two decades later and shadows the young girl from the play, Kirsten, now 28. She has joined a nomadic band of performers, actors and musicians who travel throughout the Great Lakes region on horse drawn vehicles performing and entertaining pockets of survivors. They are bound by a desire to preserve literature, theatre and music. As the band of entertainers prepares to perform in a small town they notice that things have changed since they were last there. The town seems frightened, and mysterious empty graves puzzle the nomads. Two previous members of the travelling band, who were supposed to be waiting for them in the town, have vanished and the locals seem reluctant to talk. The troupe ascertain that a self-proclaimed ‘prophet’ has taken tyrannical control, ruling with violence. The Prophet selects young girls to be his wife, and one of those selected hides in the troupe’s caravan in order to flee as the troupe makes a hasty departure from the eerie town.

On the crucial night of Arthur’s death and the outbreak of the Georgia Flu, Jeevan is warned of the impending crisis and, following an argument with his girlfriend, takes a drastic step to secure supplies and barricade himself and his paraplegic brother Frank in Frank’s apartment. This ultimately saves both their lives but as the gravity of the situation dawns on them and supplies run out, Frank commits suicide to allow Jeevan to travel in search of survivors and resources. Jeevan ultimately survives and practices as an amateur doctor but before he leaves Frank’s apartment, he contemplates Arthur’s death and how years earlier their lives had merged. Jeevan had been a paparazzo photographer hunting stars like Arthur for a photograph to sell to tabloid magazines. One fateful night he had snapped a shot of Arthur’s first wife Miranda, the creator of a graphic novel, Dr Eleven. Later as a journalist, Jeevan had been granted an exclusive interview by Arthur when he was about to divorce his second wife, Elizabeth, and marry his co-star Lydia Marks.

Further relational coincidences in the story are the interconnected roles of the characters’ journeys. Miranda is taken by the catastrophe while stranded in a foreign land. Two volumes of her Dr Eleven novel survive her and are treasured by Kirsten and Tyler, Arthur’s son by his second wife, Elizabeth. While travelling to Arthur’s funeral, at the peak of the pandemic, Elizabeth, Tyler, and other passengers on the plane are spared. They take up residence at Severn City Airport and establish a small community. Elizabeth and Tyler leave the airport to follow religious zealots after they become unsatisfied with the airport community. It is this community that Kirsten and the nomadic band of performers head for when the Prophet catches up with them to reclaim his stowaway bride.

The Prophet and his men begin to capture members of the troupe. Silently, as per their training, they pick off members until Kirsten and August, a member of the Travelling Symphony, are alone. As the pair desperately try to reach the airport, they discover and rescue one of the performers, Sayid, who had been taken hostage. This leads to an encounter with the Prophet and his men. Kirsten encounters the Prophet when his dog finds her hiding in the bushes. The tense standoff, and Kirsten’s imminent death, are diverted when Kirsten recognises the name of the Prophet’s dog to be the same as that of Dr Eleven’s dog from the graphic novels. Upon hearing the Prophet reciting lines from the Dr Eleven story, Kirsten adds to the script showing she also knows of the exclusive text. This coincidence confuses the Prophet causing him to drop his guard and inspires one of the Prophet’s men to seize the opportunity to shoot the Prophet. The young man then ends his own life, ending the cult’s reign.

At Severn City Airport, Clark Thompson, Arthur’s friend since college, has established a museum since arriving on the same flight as Elizabeth and Tyler. The Museum of Civilisation has a reputation in the post-apocalyptic world and is filled with various items from before the pandemic such as laptops, phones, shoes and books. Kirsten and the others arrive at the airport after surviving the Prophet. Kirsten donates one volume of Dr Eleven to the museum and keeps the other. After discussions with Kirsten, Clark realises that the Prophet is in fact Arthur’s son, Tyler. Clark and Kirsten climb the airport watchtower and look out to the horizon where they see the flickering lights of a rebuilt town. It seems the world is slowly rebuilding to what it once was.

Station Eleven has received critical acclaim, having been listed on several ‘best novel’ lists in 2014. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and The Toronto Book Award in 2015. Critics appreciated the simple yet sophisticated style that left readers with the opportunity to ponder as well as devour the scenes presented. A film adaptation of the novel began development in 2018.