Have you ever turned down an unknown street, just to see what was there, only to discover to your absolute delight the most incredible garden that took your breath away?

That can't even begin to compare to the discovery of this small title. "The Shack" by William Young. First printed in a very small number of books, the word of mouth has quickly spread, and it is number one on the Christian Best seller list.(Ironic, because every Books a Million, Borders, and Barnes & Noble in Atlanta was sold out of it...)

The premise of this story is the grief and agony of the main character Mack, and The Great Sadness created by the loss of his beautiful youngest daughter to a brutal child murderer. As the story and the recount of the incident unfolds, the reader is drawn into the heart wrenching grief and blunt, but painful anger that seethes just below the surface. "If there truly is a God, how could he let this happen" is the theme of this book, and we are drawn into this vortex of despair and quiet agony with each and every beginning page. Mysteriously a handwritten invitation to "Join me at the shack" appears in Mack's mail box, signed Papa... the name for God that Mack's wife Nan lovingly uses, and suddenly his entire world is flipped upside down. Is it the killer, tauntingly moving in for another member of the family? Is it a cruel joke played by some neighborhood kids? Or, could it possibly be the Big Guy Himself? Mack decides to find out, and bravely prepares for the trek back to the venue of his greatest nightmare.

The drama that unfolds at the shack is something of a combination of haunting melodies, dynamic rainbows, and a shaft of sunlight breaking through the clouds on Noah's interminably long voyage. Papa is indeed at the shack, with a couple of old friends, a vaguely Middle Eastern guy who apparently does some carpentry on the side named Jesus, and a beautiful Sprite like shimmery creature named Sarayu that is the iridescent glue that holds this mystical group together. What follows during Mack's weekend with these incredible characters can only be described as miraculous.