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Seek Immediate Shelter
Winner of the Discover Prize - A brilliantly funny, compelling and award-winning bestseller
Brief Description
BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. One ordinary morning, in an unexceptional town, every mobile phone lights up with the same emergency alert. In this compelling, darkly funny and moving debut novel, each of Vincent Yu's utterly relatable, flawed characters is...
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When an emergency alert warns of an incoming missile, the residents of Beckitt, Massachusetts are forced into a panic-stricken confrontation with their deepest fears and desires. Seventeen minutes later, a second message declares it a false alarm - leaving each to reckon with the choices made in what they thought were their final moments.
A funny, moving and compulsively readable debut novel about survival, hope and second chances after a false missile alert
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Description
BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
One ordinary morning, in an unexceptional town, every mobile phone lights up with the same emergency alert.
In this compelling, darkly funny and moving debut novel, each of Vincent Yu's utterly relatable, flawed characters is given a choice: in the face of mutually assured destruction, do we reach for grace and mercy or do we hold on to hate and fear?
Seventeen minutes later the town learns via text that it was a false alarm and the question changes. Can we forgive each other for what's been said and done when the world didn't actually end?
Seek Immediate Shelter challenges the readers to explore the depths of human nature in times of crisis, providing a nuanced look at our instincts and choices when confronted with our greatest fears.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780715656334
Publisher: Duckworth Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 December 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: September Publishing
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 300g
Pages: 304
About the Author
Vincent Yu is the winner of the 2021 Ashley Bourne Prize for fiction from Ploughshares. His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, StoryQuarterly, Ninth Letter, Able Muse, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn and works as a sales manager at W.W. Norton/Liveright.
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