In 2030, an archaeologist who is grieving the recent loss of his daughter arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his daughter’s work. He discovers the remains of a girl who died of an ancient virus, and soon the virus is unleashed across the earth.
This book takes place over hundreds of years, telling the stories of many different people and how their lives have changed due to the plague and its aftermath.
You can find How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu here.
Find Me by Laura van den Berg
Joy works the graveyard shift at a grocery store, has a secret addiction to cough syrup, and feels completely alone in the world. But suddenly a virus is sweeping across the country, starting with memory loss and ending in death, and Joy finds that she is immune.
Joy ends up in a hospital, getting strange new treatments to figure out how she is different. She forms bonds with patients and finds comfort in her roommate, but when the hospital breaks down, Joy decides to go to Florida to find her birth mother. Her journey is eerie, full of adventure, and forces her to confront her own past.
Vera has grown up in a small town tucked away in the mountains. In this town, some mothers stay and other mothers vanish, disappearing into thin air. Vera was a young girl when her own mother vanished, and now she is about to be a mother herself.
Vera and her peers look for signs, wondering which new mothers will stay and which will disappear. When Vera has her child, she is left to wonder if she will stay and be a mother, or if she will be left to vanish forever.
It is the 15th century, and Anna is an orphan who lives in Constantinople. When she learns to read, Anna finds a mysterious old book with a story about Aethon. She will end up meeting a village boy named Omeir, who has been preparing to lay siege to her city.
It is the modern day, and Zeno is helping children do a play about Aethon. But among the shelves in the library where they practice is a bomb, waiting to go off.
In the future, Konstance lives on an interstellar ship and writes down the story of Aethon, which her father told her.
These stories may take place at different times, but they are all connected in brilliant ways.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr can be read here.
The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker
Edgar Hill is across the country, 500 miles away from his family when the asteroids start to hit. The end of the world is suddenly approaching fast, and Edgar has no way to get to his family.
So he does the only thing he can think to do: Edgar starts running. He is in a race against time, and as he runs across the country, all he wants is to be reunited with the ones he loves before the world defeats him.
You can read The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker here.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
He was called Jimmy before a plague wiped out all of mankind, but now that he might be the last person on earth, he is called Snowman. Snowman is mourning the loss of Crake, his best friend, and Oryx, a woman who they both loved.
Snowman is trying to survive while he is overcome by all the grief of what has happened. But he also wants answers, so he starts a journey through the wilderness to find out what happened and why.
You can find Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood here.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
After a flu pandemic killed everyone he loves, Hig is left with no one except his dog, Jasper, and a misanthrope named Bangley. The three of them live in an abandoned airport.
But when Hig hears a radio transmission through his plane, he finds hope that there could be a better life out there. So Hig takes a risk and flies out of their perimeter to a point beyond return, and what he finds is both better and worse than anything he could’ve imagined.
Amanda and Clay are relieved to be going on vacation with their teenage son and daughter, ready for some relaxing family time. They’ve rented an extravagant home for the week, tucked away in the corner of Long Island with no service, completely disconnected from the outside world.
But then an older couple named Ruth and G.H. arrive late in the night, saying that they own the house. The family can tell that Ruth and G.H. are quite alarmed, bringing news that there has been a blackout throughout the whole city. But with no cell service or way to confirm the older couple’s story, the family doesn’t know what to believe.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam can be found here.
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Holly is only 15, but after a horrible fight with her mother, she decides to leave her family forever. But Holly has psychic abilities, and as she goes further into the English Countryside, she is plagued with visions that change her reality.
Things get worse when Holly ends up disappearing after catching unwanted attention, scarring her family for the rest of their lives.
As we figure out what happened to Holly and why, we hear many different stories. From the Swiss Alps to a hotel in Shanghai to a townhouse in Manhattan, all of these stories come together in surprising and enchanting ways.
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell can be purchased here.
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
The Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine 18 months ago, and the girls are still on an island, waiting for a cure.
It started with the teachers getting infected, and one by one they all died. Then the students began getting infected. Now the girls are stuck in the school, not wanting to wander outside of its perimeter to dangerous areas.
But when Byatt suddenly disappears, Hetty needs to find her. Hetty leaves the school, daring to enter the menacing unknown, and learns that there are secrets about their life at Rexter that she never even imagined could exist.
Ryland Grace knows that he has just woken up from a very long sleep and he is on a tiny spaceship, millions of miles away from his home. But that’s about all that he knows.
Ryland doesn’t even remember his own name, let alone what mission he is supposed to be on. He definitely doesn’t know that his mission is desperate, and it is in his hands to save humanity and Earth.
But Ryland’s memory is slowly coming back to him, and he is figuring out what he needs to do to conquer the threat and save all of humanity.
Area X is a large landscape that has no signs of civilization and is bordered by an invisible force. The only human engagement with the mysterious area has been by the Southern Reach, an incredibly secret government agency.
John (AKA Control) is a new leader at Southern Reach, and he is steadily figuring out new information about the secrets of Area X. Through every interrogation, hidden note, and disturbing video comes a new discovery, and Control begins to learn things that make him question what he’s gotten himself into.
Alex Easton is a retired soldier who has just found out that his childhood friend, Madeline Usher, is dying. The two friends go to the Ushers’ ancestral home in Ruritania, and there they find strange fungus and possessed animals.
Madeline begins sleepwalking, and her brother Roderick comes down with a strange illness. It is up to Alex to figure out what is going on and uncover the secrets of the house before it takes them all down.
You can read What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher here.
Blindness by José Saramago
Nobody is safe when a city is consumed by an epidemic of “white blindness”. The blind people are soon brought to an empty mental hospital to be quarantined, but bad things happen there. People are stolen from and assaulted.
But there is a witness who wants to do good, and they guide 7 strangers through the struggle, trying to help. This is a story of loss, confusion, and the need for survival.
In this society, children who turn 10 are genetically tested to find out their likelihood to become a criminal. “The Bads” are brought to reformation schools, where their negative genetics are counteracted for the betterment of society.
Izzy is 15 and tested good, but he doesn’t think the test is accurate at all. Izzy knows that bad is in his blood, yet the test didn’t seem to think so. When Izzy’s little brother Beau tests bad, Izzy knows that it’s false. Beau is good through and through, and Izzy will do anything to keep him from going away.
But soon Izzy finds out the secret that Beau has been hiding, and it makes him question everything he thought he once knew.
Willow is a second-phase prodigy who knows that her life is difficult. Willow has a forbidden romance with Reece and is struggling to trust her birth parents, plus there is a strict new commanding officer who enforces outlandish rules.
When a mysterious shapeshifter shows up, Willow sees an opportunity and realizes that her evolution is more complicated than she thought. She learns that secrets are important, and the people closest to her may end up being the least trustworthy.
Fan is a fish-tank driver who lives in America in the future, when society is strictly divided by class. She is a member of the labor class, which is made up of descendants of those who arrived years prior from China.
When the man she loves suddenly disappears, Fan decides to leave the safety of her home in the B-Mor Settlement and travel into the Open Counties. It is here where chaos exists and crime is common, but despite the danger, Fan is determined to find him.
You can read On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee here.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Vincent is a bartender at a five-star hotel, and one night a mysterious hooded person writes a message on the hotel wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. But the hotel business is not what it seems, and soon the whole scheme collapses and Vincent is walking out.
Years later, someone is hired to investigate the disappearance of a woman from a ship.
These stories may not seem connected, but they end up intertwining in an exciting and captivating way.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel can be found here.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag is a fireman who is supposed to destroy printed books and the houses that they are found in. He goes home every day to the same bland life with his wife, never questioning the effect that his actions have.
But when Montag meets his next-door neighbor and she shows him a more exciting life, he starts wondering why he didn’t question things sooner.
This is the story of Influenza, one of the most deadly epidemics in human history. It started in 1918 at the height of World War I, and it killed roughly 100 million people worldwide. To put it into perspective, Influenza killed more people in a year than the Black Death killed in a century.
This book tells you everything you need to know about the deadly disease and how it changed the world.
The Great Influenza by John M. Barry can be found here.
FAQs
Is there a Station Eleven book two?
Station Eleven is a standalone novel, so there is no sequel.
Are Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel connected?
The two books do have a similar world, and the character Miranda is in both books as well. She plays a bigger part in The Glass Hotel because the author, Emily St. John Mandel, wanted to expand Miranda’s role.
Freya grew up in Portland Oregon and still resides there now. She has been reading for as long as she can remember, and loves that books allow you to escape into someone else’s reality for a little while. When she is not writing or reading she enjoys playing piano, baking, and going outside.
