Author Paul Young is returning to the scene of his 2007 blockbuster novel The Shack, which has sold more than 25 million copies, remained on bestseller lists for more than a decade, and inspired a 2017 film version. Worthy, an imprint of Hachette, announced Wednesday that Return to the Shack: A Journey into Redemption is planned for release in October 2026.
“Over the past two decades, The Shack has reached more than 20 million readers around the world, making them feel known and more deeply connected,” says VP, president, and publisher of Hachette Nashville, Daisy Hutton. The original was published by Windblown, then distributed by FaithWords and finally, in a 2011 legal agreement, Hachette, the parent company of Faithwords, took over the rights.
In the original story, the lead character, Mackenize Phillips, a father in deep mourning for his murdered daughter, is led to a wilderness shack by someone named Papa to meet three characters who may or may not represent the holy trinity.
In Return, Phillips and his wife Nan reappear as they "continue to confront the aftermath of the brutal death of their daughter," according to the publisher, describing the book as "a story of pain, faith, and the relentless possibility of hope."
There's also a possibility that the sequel's version of religious redemption may trigger a return to the theological controversy provoked by the original. Christianity Today noted then that "Several conservative Protestant heavyweights...have sounded off on the dangers of The Shack's vision of God, salvation, and the Church, creating a quartet of caution for the casual Christian reader." More than one called it "heresy."
Others took a more open approach to The Shack as its popularity soared. Gino Geraci, now pastor emeritus at Calvary South Denver, wrote in a 2008 review that the book was "not really a parable, an earthly story that represents a heavenly truth. The Shack is more of an allegory; an attempt to use literary devices to represent and communicate truth; truth about God, truth about forgiveness, truth about the nature of pain and suffering."
