High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Shack is a Christian novel by Canadian author William P. Young, a former office manager and hotel night clerk, published in 2007. The novel was self-published but became a USA Today bestseller, having sold 1 million copies as of June 8, 2008. It was the #1 Paperback trade fiction seller on the New York Times best sellers list from June 2008 to early 2010.