Emily St John Mandel returns with Exit Party, a tale of two Americas
Emily St John Mandel's seventh novel is titled Exit Party. It is scheduled for publication on 15 September 2026.
The story opens at a gathering in Los Angeles in 2031. Some guests meet their doubles. From there it moves between two potential future Americas, one riven by civil war chaos and the other a surveillance state, according to The Guardian.
The central figure is Ari. He first appeared as the villain of Mandel's second novel, The Singer's Gun, published in 2010. His return places a familiar antagonist at the centre of a new story.
The United States hardcover runs to 320 pages and is listed at US$32.00. Penguin Random House, the publisher, describes the book as a novel of doubles, shadow worlds and fractured timelines. The same listing calls it a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, and a requiem for a world not unlike our own, according to Penguin Random House.
Early copies drew attention before publication. Advance reading copies, meaning early editions sent to booksellers and media ahead of release, were among the most in-demand titles at BookCon in New York City.
Mandel is best known for Station Eleven, her third novel. Published in 2014, it follows life after a global pandemic. It has sold 1.5 million copies and been translated into 37 languages. Her later novels The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility were global bestsellers. Her backlist also includes Last Night in Montreal.
Her own path to publishing was unusual. She was home-schooled on a tiny island in British Columbia, Canada, before training as a dancer. She has said she was essentially not educated until about age 15 and does not have a high school diploma. She now lives in Queens, New York City.
The new novel arrives with broadcast and press coverage. The Guardian published an interview with Mandel about Exit Party headlined "When half the electorate disagrees on basic reality, how do you come back from that". NPR described the book as exploring identity in a near-future world in coverage that aired on Weekend Edition Saturday, according to NPR.
What makes this stand out for readers is the structure. Two futures run side by side. One choice, one party, one double can tip a life one way or the other.
