Emily St. John Mandel's 'Exit Party' depicts two possible US futures

Emily St. John Mandel, whose 2014 novel *Station Eleven* earned her recognition as a “pandemic prophet” after its prescient depiction of a global flu outbreak, is set to release a second speculative work that turns its focus to the United States. The Canadian author, known for blending literary storytelling with genre elements, has announced *Exit Party*, a novel that explores two divergent visions of America’s near future: one in which a totalitarian regime consolidates power, and another in which the nation descends into post‑civil‑war chaos.

*Exit Party* will be published later this year by Knopf and is positioned as a meditation on political fragmentation, authoritarianism, and societal collapse. The narrative alternates between the two imagined scenarios, offering parallel storylines that examine how ordinary citizens navigate extreme governance and lawlessness. Critics anticipate that Mandel’s reputation for nuanced world‑building and character-driven prose will bring fresh insight to contemporary anxieties about democracy and social order, adding to the ongoing dialogue sparked by her earlier pandemic‑themed success.