Emily St. John Mandel grew up on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. She finished full training in contemporary dance at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and later traveled to Montreal before settling in the New York area. We attempted to collect the top Emily St. John Mandel books.
Emily St. John Mandel is a critically acclaimed author of novels and short stories. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, and The Atlantic, among other places.
While each of her novels are distinctly different from one another, they all share a common thread in that they focus on the relationships between people and the often devastating consequences that occur when those relationships fall apart.
Here are the best books from Emily St. John Mandel.
What Are The Best Emily St. John Mandel Books (Ranked)?
01 Station Eleven (2014)
Station Eleven tells the story of several protagonists and looks at how their lives were changed before and after the catastrophe, including a good deal of flashbacks and jump-forwards. Chapters are frequently intercalated between other chapters, taking up very little actual time with the characters, and they shift in perspective and approach from one character to another.
Arthur Leander was born in an island off the west coast of Canada. Dreaming of a more exciting life, he moved to Toronto, where he met Clark Thompson, who became his closest friend. Arthur pursued an acting career, eventually becoming a very successful stage and screen actor. In Toronto, he met a young woman named Miranda Carroll, an aspiring artist who had grown up on the same northwest island of Canada.
A dark and glittering novel set in the collapse of civilization’s foreboding days chronicles an brave movie star’s travels through the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and human race. Station Eleven is one of Mandel’s most popular books. The book is a well-written and suspenseful novel that will keep you hooked until the very end.
The novel was so popular that HBO Max created an original series from the book in 2021.
02 Sea of Tranquility (2022)
He reaches the age of eighteen when he migrates by boat across the whole Atlantic Ocean, on the left side of his father’s society after an inflammatory private affair goes on too long in front of a dinner party. Edwin St. Andrew wanders into the woods and astounds himself while listening to the melodies in a famed airship terminal.
Two decades later, a prominent author name Olive Llewellyn goes on a book tour. She is traveling across the globe, but her base is the next moon colony, a place of white marble, ivory towers, and unreal beauty. Within the text of her acclaimed pandemic novel is a curious scene: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship port while the travelers are smoking.
A novel of time travel and metaphysics that reflects our reality, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of metaphysics that’s as human and tender as it is intellectually playful.
03 The Glass Hotel (2020)
The Glass Hotel began opening its doors in 1994, when the protagonist was only 13. She was brought up on the island of Vancouver Island by her biological parents along with her half-brother Paul. The charming Vincent’s mother goes missing shortly before her 13th birthday. Her experience makes her resentful of authority, and she clashes with her self-centered younger half-brother Paul. Vincent goes to live with her Auntie in Vancouver after that.
In 1999, Paul, who is recovering from drug abuse, takes a vacation to Vancouver with Vincent. Paul’s departure is due to a scion of his self-possessed and insubordinate sibling’s drug-related death. His strained relationship with his responsible and structured younger sibling persists, and he is troubled by his own wrongdoings.
A story about a ponzi scheme developing was ruined by a reckless plan. Without a doubt this is a very special piece among Emily St. John Mandel books.
04 Last Night in Montreal (2009)
A strange shadow has begun wriggling in Lilia’s life. Haunted by her inability so as not to remember what her childhood was like, Lilia proliferates from city to city and abandons people and friends along the way. But then Lilia meets Eli, and he is not ready to leave her anytime soon.
The book tells a mysterious past belonging to a woman named Lilia, who was abducted by her father at the age of seven. Lilia does not remember anything prior to her abduction, but the scars on her elbows indicate she was abused at some point. The novel focuses primarily on the narratives of characters affected by the mystery of Lilia’s story.
John Mandel’s Last Night in Montreal comprises a recounting of the key details of a life spent at the heart of an investigation.
05 The Singer’s Gun (Vintage Contemporaries) (2010)
Anton Waker, the mystery protagonist of Emily St. John Mandel’s second novel, The Singer’s Gun, spends most of the book waiting. This reader’s dreamlike sense of the present is the sole mystery underlying the hero’s story throughout most of the book, up until these and similar parts catch up to the present. In the meantime, Anton waits.
Although the hold-up is deliberate, it could have the unwanted effect of making you feel as if you’re waiting at the airport gate and hoping your departure flight is delayed yet again. Then, after a while, you learn that the hold-up has been repeated yet again.
The author guides us to go to Ischia after his honeymoon was canceled during the numbed state. He does this by rereading the newspaper the International Herald Tribune in cafes during the day and gazing out on the Tyrrhenian Sea at night.
In her second book–among Emily St. John Mandel books– the author blends in some lighthearted moments with herclaimed distinctive brand of melancholy.
06 The Lola Quartet (Vintage Contemporaries) (2012)
The Lola Quartet pays homage to literary works that celebrate jazzy music, the music of 19th century French violinist Django Reinhardt, the economic crash of 1929, the ecology of Florida, tropical heat, the effects of contemporary world literature, compulsive gambling, and the unreliability of memory.
Gavin Sasaki, an ambitious young writer in NYC, is fired from his job because of his many unforgivable blunders. It’s September 2009, and the world is quickly deteriorating; the economic meltdown has turned a fantasy of the 19th and early 20th century into something similar to its counterpart during the Great Depression.
Emily Mandel puts together every one of her award-winning characters, and together with her most complete story examines the difficulty caused by trying to be the individual you wish to become, well-being, how a minor and innocent action can lead to great consequences.
Final Thoughts on the best Emily St. John Mandel Books
If you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic fictions and literary noir, then you need to read the novels of Emily St. John Mandel. Her books are some of the best in the genre, and they’re all worth reading.
These were the best Emily St. John Mandel books. If you are looking for a great read, then I highly recommend picking up one of her novels. Her stories are suspenseful, intriguing, and will keep you awake until the very end.
If you are looking for more dystopian books check out our favorite post-apocalyptic romance novels.