Emily St John Mandel for Exit Party

Emily St John Mandel is coming to Tempest Anderson Hall in Museum Gardens on Thursday 8 October, for a talk and book signing around her new novel, Exit Party. The evening is presented by Topping & Company Booksellers.

If the name rings a bell, it's probably because of Station Eleven, the bestselling novel that put her on the map. Exit Party is her latest, and it's being described as a mind-bending epic about crimes committed and loves lost across space and time. It's a story of freedom and surveillance, art and survival, love and loss in a broken world.

The plot follows Ari, who's just been released from prison. He attends a party in 2031 Los Angeles where something goes very wrong, and he spends the rest of the book haunted by that night while living in Paris. It's a long way from the post-apocalyptic world of Station Eleven, but it keeps that same interest in how people hold onto each other when everything else is falling apart.

On the night, Mandel will talk about the book and sign copies. The talk runs from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, with doors opening at 6:30pm, so you've got a half-hour to get settled before she starts. The venue is Tempest Anderson Hall, Museum Gardens, York, YO1 2FR.