Christian fiction rarely makes it onto the mainstream bestseller lists. The Shack by William P. Young is a notable exception, reaching the pinnacle of number one on The New York Times list, despite having been originally self-published. It is the recommended summer 2009 reading choice of the STwSS clergy.

The book opens with Mack receiving a mysterious message, inviting him to return to the site (the shack of the title) where four years earlier he suffered a deep personal tragedy, the start of The Great Sadness that has blighted his life since. The invitation is signed “Papa”, the familiar name his wife uses to refer to God. Thinking it might be a sick practical joke, but intrigued in case it isn’t, Mack revisits the shack and there he encounters the three persons of the Trinity. Over the course of a weekend he does serious business with them.

Ruth Jeffery writes: “Everybody should read this book. It is curiously liberating. A friend asked if I was reading ‘horror’ and, in a funny sort of way, it is a horror story. But it’s about what happens when heaven sweeps in and transforms that horror into something quite different. God sensibly advises the protagonist not to rush his food, but I’m afraid I gobbled my way through The Shack to find out what happens in the end, racing past deep nuggets of wisdom on the way. I wonder if the box of tissues will be required as much for a second bite...”