--- title: The Glass Hotel: 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 description: Find out why The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-11-09T20:01:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:44:06.790Z og:title: 'The Glass Hotel' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb131629937ab6dd2/698a13ff86f68e3e916ef63f/best-books-2020-Glass-Hotel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'The Glass Hotel' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Glass Hotel' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb131629937ab6dd2/698a13ff86f68e3e916ef63f/best-books-2020-Glass-Hotel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 09, 2020 # The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  In the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, many readers revisited [Emily St. John Mandel](https://time.com/5804007/emily-st-john-mandel-station-eleven-coronavirus/)‘s prophetic dystopian novel, _Station Eleven_, about a flu that wipes out most of the earth’s population. Her follow-up, _The Glass Hotel_, is a more grounded work: Like _Station Eleven_, it examines how one event—in this case the toppling of a Bernie Madoff-esque schemer—impacts a large group of seemingly unconnected characters. But if _Station Eleven_ is a novel about a lack of choice in the face of an unstoppable catastrophe, _The_ _Glass Hotel_ is a book about the choices we can make, and their long-term consequences. Turning a blind eye to your husband’s crimes could change the trajectory of the rest of your life—as could claiming credit for someone else’s artwork. After many engrossing chapters, each told from the perspective of a new character, the themes of this kaleidoscopic novel lock into place. The characters are haunted by their pasts and must choose to either reckon with the ghosts of their mistakes or succumb to them. The stories add up to a profound meditation on personal responsibility at a time when everything seems out of our control. **Buy Now:** _The Glass Hotel_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780525521143) | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525521143/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525521143&linkId=b6015a936a055074914337039a63a8fe) These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/"},"headline":"'The Glass Hotel' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-09T20:01:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:44:06.790Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb131629937ab6dd2/698a13ff86f68e3e916ef63f/best-books-2020-Glass-Hotel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb131629937ab6dd2/698a13ff86f68e3e916ef63f/best-books-2020-Glass-Hotel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904343/the-glass-hotel/","name":"'The Glass Hotel' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```