The (excellent) TV adaptation of Emily (St John?) Mandel's Station Eleven, about a pandemic, was in the works for years before being released mid-pandemic and permanently designating her That Covid Writer. Of course she has to deal with that in this novel. And so we have an actual (albeit 23rd century) version of her in the novel, linked to a bunch of others through time glitches. Which, arguably, is what fiction is; echoes of a moment through different times and narrators.

I'm not sure the ending needs to be as neat as it is. I kind of want it to be messier. And I'm torn between loving how little she changes mankind over 500 years and wanting there to be more that's unexplained. But again, she manages to create characters whose stasis (hey, it's a Covid novel) feels both relatable, horrifying and rich.