A pilgrim’s progress for the 21st century

03 September 2008

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Mary Wakefield talks to the author William P. Young, whose self-published religious novel has astounded the publishing world and sold nearly two million copies

Because I spoke to him on the phone, not in person, you’ll have to share my mental picture of William P. Young. There he is in a hotel room in Texas: 53, balding, with bright eyes and a greying goatee. He’s ironing as he talks (he says so), his sleeves rolled up (I reckon), with a snowy pile of pressed shirts beside him. On the table beside his bed is a photo of his wife, Kim, and the six young Youngs back home in Gresham, Oregon. On the floor: piles of his extraordinary book The Shack.

It’s extraordinary because of the subject matter — a man called Mack meets God in a shed — and also because of its phenomenal, inexplicable success in the face of what should have been certain book death. Though it was much loved by his friends, William P. Young’s manuscript was rejected by nearly 30 publishers. That should have put an end to it, but Young decided to print The Shack himself. He raised $15,000 (with the help of his pals Brad and Wayne) and created a website (total cost: $300). To date he’s sold almost two million copies worldwide and The Shack is being hailed as a modern-day Pilgrim’s Progress.

Paul Young (he uses his middle name) is No. 1 on the New York Times fiction bestseller list, the Borders bestseller list, the list at Barnes and Noble; and the internet is humming with tearful fans, swapping stories about how The Shack has transformed their lives. ‘How did the author get so deep inside my brain and drag out the things I needed answers to?’ Pete56. ‘This book opened my heart in a way I thought was impossible,’ says Ccshaked. ‘I don’t think I can really explain it.’

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EUSSR GO HOME

September 5th, 2008 5:26am Report this comment

"That’s great, but we’re a secular nation, I say, trying to prepare him for disappointment."

I really wish you euro atheists would stop telling everybody that Britain is a secular nation. If that is true, it hasn't been true for very long. And people who don't believe in 'Secular' think it's something horribly shameful.

Furthermore, those of us who grew up in the nicer, better, more beautiful, dearly loved Christian nation are not all dead yet. You may keep on shunting us all into infected NHS wards, but the younger among us are wise to you.

Anyway, guess what - you still have a lot of Christians among you. And we keep praying for you, not least because one of these days you're going to wake up and realize that little base-metal god 'Secular' is full of emptiness!

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