Seek Immediate Shelter
Selected for Barack Obama's Summer Reading List 2026 - A brilliantly funny, compelling and award-winning bestseller
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Duckworth Books
Published:6th Aug '26
Should be back in stock very soon
A funny, moving and compulsively readable debut novel about survival, hope and second chances after a false missile alert
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. Eighteen 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.
Winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize 2026
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?
Eighteen 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?
'Propulsive and poetic, Vincent Yu's Seek Immediate Shelter explodes with characters at once sad and lonely, fierce and funny, selfish and selfless, all mirroring missiles themselves as they hurtle toward the consequences of their choices in the wake of a false missile alarm. This is a book that asks not so much what it means to be human, but to be a person - foibles, shame, desire, gluttony and all. A masterful debut' Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of Superfan
'A brilliant thought experiment, this novel deftly and ruthlessly explores ignoble truths characters must face about themselves after a false alarm of world-ending proportions. Equal parts thrilling and touching, Yu’s portrait of a not-destroyed-after-all Massachusetts small town reveals the cowardice and heroism within each individual heart' Aube Rey Lescure, author of River East, River West
'Can we ever really change our lives? Vincent Yu’s intriguing novel, exploring a wonderful array of responses to a terrifying moment, examines the many and varied ways we confront the possibilities of transformation within the confines of our familial bonds' Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Natural History
'Vincent Yu is a writer of incredible grace and insight who understands that the best fiction is about trusting characters to reveal themselves under the right pressure... [Seek Immediate Shelter] is a profound work about connection and disconnection that left me reeling and wanting more. A daring, prodigious debut' Brian Castleberry, author of The Californians and Nine Shiny Objects
'Compelling and cinematic... Yu's vivid and beautiful descriptions of these "difficult to like but easy to empathise with" characters display the skilfulness of this storyteller in full force' Abraham Chang, author of 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers
- Winner of Barnes & Noble Discover Prize 2026
ISBN: 9780715656334
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
304 pages