Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven—a novel set in a near-future, post-pandemic world beginning to rebuild itself—became a bestseller and National Book Award finalist when it was published in 2014, and plans for its adaptation to screen began soon after. Two episodes were filmed in early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a year-long shutdown of the production, a 10-episode limited series for HBO Max, which aired its finale last night.

While many might understandably steer clear of a topic so close to our current lived experience, Station Eleven—with central themes of loss, home, human connection, found family, and the power of art—is thoughtful, heartfelt, and ultimately hopeful as it prompts us to contemplate not just how to survive, but why. If you were drawn into the Station Eleven universe and are looking to stay "on the wheel," here are some reading suggestions for similar tales of survival after civilization's collapse, and moving forward from loss and seismic change. Station Eleven, the tv series, has some significant plot differences from the novel, so if you have yet to read the book, that may be your best place to start.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The sudden death of a Hollywood actor during a production of "King Lear" marks the beginning of the world's dissolution in a story told at various past and future times from the perspectives of the actor and four of his associates.

 

 

 

 

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

When a bizarre phenomenon causes the cataclysmic disappearances of numerous people all over the world, Kevin Garvey, the new mayor of a once-comfortable suburban community, struggles to help his neighbors heal while enduring the fanatical religious conversions of his wife and son.

 

 

 

 

The Plague by Kevin Chong

A modern retelling of the Camus classic that posits its story of infectious disease and quarantine in our contemporary age of social justice and rising inequity.

 

 

 

 

 

The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones

In a future world where the United States' borders have receded behind a ring of scorched earth to protect citizens from deadly disease-carrying ticks, a group of extreme adventurers find themselves at the center of a murderous plot.

 

 

 

 

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Surviving a pandemic disease that has killed everyone he knows, a pilot establishes a shelter in an abandoned airport hangar before hearing a random radio transmission that compels him to risk his life to seek out other survivors.

 

 

 

 

 

Blindness by José Saramago

Portuguese novelist José Saramago's spellbinding tale begins when an unnamed man in an unnamed city is suddenly struck blind. In the days that follow, everyone he comes in contact with comes down with the mysterious condition. As the blindness spreads to epidemic proportions, the government responds by isolating the infected in an abandoned mental hospital where social conditions quickly deteriorate.

 

 

 

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

In a dangerous near-future world where an unknown phenomenon causes people to gain strange new powers but lose their memories, Ory and his wife Max journey through a perilous, unrecognizable world in a search for answers.

 

 

 

 

California by Edan Lepucki

After escaping the crumbling ruins of Los Angeles for a shack in the wilderness, Cal and Frida realize they are pregnant and seek refuge in the nearest settlement—a guarded, dark, and paranoid community that poses a whole new set of dangers.

 

 

 

 

 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity.

 

 

 

 

Severance by Ling Ma

A survivor of an apocalyptic plague maintains a blog about a decimated Manhattan before joining a motley group of survivors to search for a place to rebuild, a goal that is complicated by an unscrupulous group leader.

 

 

 

 

World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler

In the wake of a series of global catastrophes that have destroyed industrial civilization, the inhabitants of Union Grove, a small New York town, do anything they can to get by, as they struggle to deal with a new way of life over the course of an eventful summer, in a novel set several decades in the future.

This book has three sequels: The Witch of Hebron, A History of the Future, and The Harrows of Spring.

 

 

The Stand by Stephen King

A monumentally devastating plague leaves only a few survivors who, while experiencing dreams of a battle between good and evil, move toward an actual confrontation as they migrate to Boulder, Colorado

 

 

 

 

 

Y, The Last Man series written by Brian K. Vaughan, pencilled by Pia Guerra, inked by José Marzán, Jr.

In 2002, the world changes forever. Every man, every boy, every mammal with a Y chromosome everywhere on Earth suddenly collapses and dies. With the loss of more than half the planet's population, the gears of society grind to a halt, and a world of women are left to pick up the pieces and try to keep civilization from collapsing entirely.

 

 

 

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Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.