Talking Volumes: Emily St. John Mandel on what the multiverse offers in 'Exit Party'

Emily St. John Mandel is a master at speculative fiction — and at times oddly prescient. Her novel “Station Eleven,” follows a nomadic troupe of actors and musicians two decades after a pandemic wipes out the bulk of humanity. It was released in 2014 — six years before COVID-19 ravaged the globe.

So it understandably made people a little nervous when her new novel was announced. “Exit Party” is set in 2031, after the complete collapse of the United States.

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When she joined Kerri Miller at Talking Volumes on Nov. 4, she said her writing grew out of an unease with the country’s current political moment, and the multiverse approach she deployed felt right in a country where there is almost no “consensual reality.”

But Mandel’s novels are more than simple dystopia. Instead, she said, she works hard to imbue her books with hope, even as they wrestle with loss.

Singer-songwriter Anna Graves rounded out the evening.