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Station Eleven cover art

Station Eleven

By: Emily St. John Mandel
Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
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Editorial reviews

The Travelling Symphony, a group of musicians and actors, wander what remains of Planet Earth after a global pandemic has decimated the population, performing musical acts and Shakespearean skits for pockets of survivors who have managed to rebuild. Life has slowly settled into some semblance of normalcy — but with a new danger rising, any illusion of safety is soon shattered. 

Told through the voice of multiple characters (each performed with distinction by narrator Jack Hawkins), Station Eleven is a twisting novel that jumps back and forth from the early days of the outbreak to the crumbled aftermath. It’s a stark, brilliantly crafted post-apocalyptic tale that is both adored by fans and celebrated by critics, evidenced by its 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award win.

Publisher's Summary

Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2015

Day one: The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the Earth like a neutron bomb. News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%.

Week Two: Civilization has crumbled.

Year Twenty: A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe. But now a new danger looms, and it threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild.

Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan, a bystander warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife, Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend, Clark; Kirsten, an actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'.

Emily St. John Mandel was born in Canada and studied dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She is the author of the novels Last Night in Montreal, The Singer's Gun, The Lola Quartet, and Station Eleven and is a staff writer for The Millions. She is married and lives in New York.

©2014 Emily St. John Mandel (P)2014 Audible Studios

What listeners say about Station Eleven

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Superb

I loved this book and having read it in 2020 It had a special poignancy. The flicking between time periods is done well and the linking of characters is believable. Well narrated.

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captivating

the most interesting and original approach to the genre in recent memory. with realistic characters intertwined in a really engaging way

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different

an interesting drama set before and after apocalypse. narrator was great. not your typical post apoc story

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great dude

what a great dude!!!!!!! very very very very very very very very very very super cool

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Couldn’t put the book down!

Such a captivating book with enticing characters and story, can’t wait for the next book!

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Beautiful book

So very sad but very beautiful. I’d certainly recommend it to anybody who enjoys reading character fiction.

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Good book if you dont think about it too much

It focuses on the characters rather than the post apocalypse. It sets them up quite well, but the payoff isnt that great.

There are some things that dont make sense (lack of electricity for 20 years), but it can easily be ignored.

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6 people found this helpful

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This story draws you in.

I read this book first and then downloaded the audio book a few months later. The narrator’s Canadian accent changed my perception of characters and events for the better and I was able to appreciate the story in a different way. I love the understated nature of the writer’s post apocalyptic world. The threats and dangers are there, but there’s a sense of hope that if civilisation ended, we might just find enough common humanity to form communities and reasons to live. I also loved the time jumps back and forth to slowly reveal stories. The interconnected plots felt realistic and never too contrived. I’d recommend this book to anyone.

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2 people found this helpful

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I listen to this book a second time

I have recommended it to lots of other people loved every second of it. Got even more out of it the 2nd reading

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2 people found this helpful

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Literary dystopian fiction- excellent

Absorbing characters, wonderfully written and performed. Less bleak than others in the genre, some hope. Lots of layers...enjoyed very much.

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