Published in 2014, Station Eleven is the fourth novel by Emily St. John Mandel (The Glass Hotel, Sea of Tranquility). The book won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Toronto Book Award, and was shortlisted or nominated for several others. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where a flu outbreak decimates the world’s population, the book is sometimes categorized as science fiction, although it does not feature any fictional technology; its protagonists’ involvement in a traveling Shakespearean theater troupe also qualifies it as theater fiction. In 2021, it was adapted into an HBO miniseries starring Mackenzie Davis and Himesh Patel.

This guide references the first hardcover edition, published by Vintage Books in 2014.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide discuss suicide and ableism. 

Plot Summary

Central to the plot of Station Eleven is a pandemic that, in a matter of days, kills most of the world’s human population. Throughout the narrative, which is presented non-chronologically, events are situated with reference to this pandemic. The first chapter opens on the night that the Georgia Flu—so named for the country where it was first identified—reaches Toronto, Canada. Famous actor Arthur Leander has a heart attack while performing the titular role in King Lear. Following his collapse, Jeevan Chaudhaury, a onetime paparazzo recently trained as a paramedic, leaps from the audience to perform CPR, but Arthur dies. Jeevan comforts Kirsten Raymonde, a young girl with a nonspeaking part in the play.

Leaving the theater, Jeevan receives several calls from a friend who is a doctor, warning him of the Georgia Flu outbreak. Jeevan stocks up on supplies and goes to stay with his brother, who is paraplegic. In coming days, an increasing number of people are infected and die of the virus. The Internet goes down permanently, utilities fail, and cities fall silent. Jeevan and his brother survive in seclusion for two months. When their supplies run out, Jeevan’s brother dies by suicide. Jeevan heads south, where he eventually joins a settlement, marries, and provides medical services.

Kirsten survives the first year after the pandemic with help from her older brother, who later dies. After a few years on her own, Kirsten joins a group of musicians and actors known as the Traveling Symphony; they wander from town to town performing music and Shakespeare plays. As they travel, Kirsten scavenges for magazines with information about Arthur, whom she remembers fondly. She also carries with her a sci-fi comic series called Dr. Eleven that Arthur gave to her; the premise of the series symbolically parallels the survivors’ plight. Flashbacks show that it was written and drawn by Miranda Carroll, Arthur’s first wife.

Twenty years after the outbreak, the Traveling Symphony arrives in a town that they visited two years earlier. They are alarmed to discover that the town is now controlled by a religious fanatic known as “the prophet.” Two former Symphony members that stayed in the town two years earlier are nowhere to be found. The Symphony leaves, heading for the Museum of Civilization in Severn City, after hearing rumors that the missing Symphony members went that way.

Unknown to the Symphony members, a girl slated to become the prophet’s next wife stows away in one of the caravans. The prophet and his men pursue the Symphony and capture several Symphony members, planning to use them as bargaining chips. The prophet catches up with Kirsten and several Symphony members near Severn City. Just as he is about to kill Kirsten, a boy in his group shoots him, then dies by suicide. Kirsten and the others arrive at the Museum of Civilization, which is run by Clark Thompson, who was Arthur’s best friend.

Interspersed with accounts of the Symphony’s journey are accounts of Arthur’s rise to fame, his relationship with Miranda, her creation of Dr. Eleven, and Arthur’s subsequent relationships, including his relationship with Elizabeth, his second wife, who gives birth to a son, Tyler. Following Arthur’s death, Clark, Elizabeth, and Tyler catch the same flight to Toronto for Arthur’s funeral, but the flight is redirected due to the outbreak. They land in Severn City, where they form a small community with other survivors. Clark founds the Museum of Civilization. Two years later, Elizabeth and Tyler leave with a religious cult. Years later, hearing the Symphony members’ accounts of the prophet, Clark recognizes him as Tyler. The novel closes as the Symphony heads south toward a set of electric lights that recently appeared on the horizon.