Book club
September Book Club: Seek Immediate Shelter
A false missile alert convinces a small town that the end is moments away, leaving its residents to make choices they cannot take back. A darkly funny and moving novel about fear, forgiveness and what happens after the all-clear.
New to the book club? You're very welcome - get in touch before the meeting to register, or call 07949 480856.
About this book
This September, our book club is reading Seek Immediate Shelter, the debut novel from Vincent Yu.
On an otherwise ordinary morning, every mobile phone in Beckitt, Massachusetts, lights up with the same terrifying warning: a ballistic missile is on its way, and this is not a drill. Believing they may have only minutes left, the town’s residents act on instinct. Some reach for the people they love, while others make decisions that expose old resentments, hidden fears and uncomfortable truths.
When a second message reveals that the alert was sent in error, the relief is only the beginning. Yu follows an interconnected group of characters as they try to explain, repair or live with what they did, exploring family, loyalty, shame and the possibility of second chances.
The warning gives the novel its urgency, but the real story lies in everything that follows. It should give us plenty to talk about.
About Vincent Yu
The idea for Seek Immediate Shelter was inspired by the false ballistic-missile alert sent across Hawaii in 2018. Yu uses that unsettling premise to ask how people might behave when they believe time is running out, and whether it is possible to return to ordinary life afterwards.
Vincent Yu grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Brooklyn. His short fiction has appeared in several literary journals, and he won the 2021 Ploughshares Ashley Bourne Prize for Fiction. Seek Immediate Shelter is his first novel and the winner of the 2026 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. It was also selected for Barack Obama’s 2026 summer reading list.
Joining us
We meet in the shop at 6.30pm on Wednesday 30 September. Book club is free, and new members are always very welcome. Whether you come every month or this is your first time, we’d love to have you with us - and nobody minds if you haven’t quite finished the book.
Copies of Seek Immediate Shelter are available from Hartmanns Books. Pop in or get in touch if you’d like us to put one aside for you.
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