Station Eleven is unlike anything I have ever read before. The early descriptions of a snowy night when the world is beginning to collapse after a mysterious flu has become a full-blown pandemic intrigued me instantly. But what follows isn’t just a post-apocalyptic adventure, it’s a real voyage with struggles that are far beyond survival.

Although Station Eleven is about a desolate landscape after a world-wide catastrophe as we follow a number of characters who roam the wastelands and risk everything for humanity, it is in no way like anything that you will have read before. What’s so unique about this book is the focus of arts and theatre, as we follow a performing troupe known as the Traveling Symphony. Technology may not have survived the plague, but Shakespeare certainly did.

Moving forward and backwards in time over a 20 year period between the main character’s early days as a film star and his current experiences, the story comes together through Jeevan’s interactions with the key characters at various points in his life. With striking prose and strongly developed characters, it is the darker moments of the story that keep you on edge, but the complexity of the way that the story intertwines together that will leave you feeling breathless.

It really is a powerful read and a wonderfully-written story that you will not forget quickly.