FAIRHOPE, Ala. — For William P. Young, it was a story originally written for his children, built on the foundation of suffering he experienced earlier in life and the way God’s love helped heal his soul. For many others, however, The Shack has become a much larger message of hope, love and faith in a world seemingly spinning out of control.

The book is the story of Mackenzie Allen Phillips, whose youngest daughter, Missy, was abducted during a family camping trip. Evidence she was brutally murdered was found in an abandoned shack hidden deep in the woods.

Four years later, as Phillips continued to be burdened by what he called his “Great Sadness,” he received a note, presumably written by God, inviting him back to the shack where Missy’s bloody and tattered dress was found.

What happened there upon his return had a profound impact on the man, as well as many who have read the story. Some readers have even been brought to tears by the tale.

The novel paints a provocative and poignant portrait of God and how he relates to humanity. Although a deeply tragic story, it is buoyed by faith and grace. The Shack asks readers to contemplate the timeless question: Where is God in a world filled with unspeakable pain?

A recent check showed the book is No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List (paperback trade fiction) for the sixth consecutive week, and is ranked No. 2 in sales by Amazon.com. The online retailer’s Kindle electronic version is the No. 4 seller in the format.

Young will be at Centennial Hall on the Faulkner State Community College campus in Fairhope on Thursday, July 17, beginning at 6:30 p.m., for a special reading event sponsored by Page & Palette Bookstore. The doors will open at 6. He will then head over to the store at 32 S. Section St. (one block away) for a book signing and reception.

Young is also scheduled to be in New York that morning for a guest appearance on NBC’s “Today Show.” But, even with all the relatively sudden success The Shack has enjoyed, and the buzz it has created, the 53-year-old, first-time author remains surprisingly humble.

“The beautiful thing about it is I did write it for my kids, and that’s what really matters,” Young said, speaking by phone from his Gresham, Ore. home. His six children were ages 13-25 at the time he wrote the story three years ago.

He pointed out, “It’s true like a parable is true, but it’s fiction. There’s truth that’s wrapped up in this. I am Mackenzie and Missy. Missy represents the process of healing.”

Young was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, but at 10 months old traveled with his missionary parents to the highlands of Netherlands New Guinea (West Papua), where they remained until he was nearly 10.

The family lived among the Dani, a primitive tribal people. Young was the first white child and outsider to speak their language, and because of that he was granted unusual access into their culture and community.

“There were a lot of wonderful things, but a lot of hard things,” he said. “I had to deal with my father’s anger and my parents focus on the ministry. Kids tend to slip through the cracks.”

Young was sexually abused as a child by some of the tribesmen, and when he was sent away to a boarding school, more abuse followed — this time at the hands of older students. He said, “I felt shame. I tried to perform my way out of it, but underneath, things were a mess.”

Later during Young’s youth, his father worked as a pastor for several small churches in western Canada and by the time he graduated, he had attended 13 different schools. The young man paid his way through Bible college by working as a radio disc jockey, lifeguard and a worker in the oil fields of northern Alberta.

After a summer in the Philippines and another touring with a drama troupe before working in Washington D.C. at Fellowship House, an international guest house, he completed his undergraduate degree in religion.

Young graduated summa cum laude from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Ore., and met and married Kim Warren the following year.

He worked for a time on staff at a large suburban church while attending seminary, but has also owned businesses and worked for others in diverse industries, from insurance to construction, venture capital companies to telecom, contract work to food processing.

Young hit rock bottom just over a decade ago, haunted by the abuse, an adulterous affair he had and other turmoil in his life. The story was a catharsis for him.

“The shack is the house of the soul and house of the heart,” he said. “It’s the place you build to hide your lies and hide your secrets.” Young said he “spent 38 years in (pain) and 11 in a shack.” He finally emerged in 2004, thanks to his wife.

“I married the right person. With Kim, everything is black and white. There’s no shades of gray.”

Although the description sounds suspiciously like Phillips’ wife, Nan, there are some differences. Young said Kim is not a registered nurse, noting both his mother and her mother actually were.

He added, “Kim would never have left Oregon with a daughter missing. She saved my life — this woman.”

The Shack reflects many of the relationships in Young’s life, and he believes love and faith are far more important than the brick and mortar churches that dot the landscape.

“It’s always been about people,” he said. “I’m convinced God did not come to add a new religion to the smorgasbord of religions, but to offer love. Religion is about performance. The motivation is to want to please the deity.”

He continued, saying, “We live in a world of institutions. They’re all around us. How do we live in this world and not be of them? It all revolves around my relationship with God. People who are full of stuff bring it to church and hide their stuff there.

“The system will always move in the direction of dehumanizing people. Life is so unpredictable. Control is such a mess. We want intimacy, but there is one god we want to control, and that is us. But faith grows in uncertainty.

“We have a world in which we think freedom is independence, but we are actually in dependence (with God).”

Young’s account sums up many complex Biblical messages in a way that makes them easier for the reader to understand, and that’s by design.

He said, “In writing for my kids, I’m not trying to confuse them. This creates space for people to bring their stuff. I don’t want my kids to see God as (having) an attitude.”

Young has written songs for his own amusement, as well as poetry, short stories and newsletters. He has also written for business, created web content, business plans and white papers, but The Shack came as a complete surprise to him.

“I’ve never written for publication. I never thought of myself as an author. I’m an accidental author,” he said.

In fact, Young went to a nearby Kinko’s and had copies of the original story made and spiral bound so he could give them to his family. He said his first run of 15 copies made just after Christmas “broke the bank.” The book grew legs though and was passed around to others who encouraged him to have it published.

“I started getting e-mails from people I don’t know,” he said. “I called Wayne Jacobsen, the only real author I knew, and sent it to him.” From there it was also passed along to Brad Cummings and Bobby Downes, two men who recognized the story as having the potential to be turned into a screenplay.

Young said, “I’m a total blank about any of this stuff. The four of us met in California in 2006 and began to work on the manuscript and the healing process of Mackenzie. We sent it to publishers, but no one would take it. (Christian publishers) said it was too edgy and others had no niche for it because there was too much Jesus in it.”

So Cummings and Jacobsen formed Windblown Media with that one title, sent it to a printer and presold 6,000 copies through a Christian podcast. They spent a grand total of $300 to market the book.

The first run of 11,000 (they had ordered only 10,000, and were billed for the overage) was delivered to Cummings’ Thousand Oaks, Calif. garage. They were expected to last nearly a year, but sold in four months.

A second order of 20,000 copies likewise turned into 22,000, and they were sold out in 60 days. The third printing of 33,000 (they had ordered 30,000) were gone in 30 days.

“People were trying to track the book down online and in bookstores,” Young said. “That opened up a lot of doors.”

More than 1.7 million copies of the book have been sold so far, and since Windblown partnered with Hachette Book Group to help market and distribute the novel, the numbers are likely to continue growing.

Although not under contract, and therefore “not under any pressure to produce or perform,” Young said he has another book or two inside of him.

Karin Wilson, owner of Page & Palette, said she was recently at a book expo in California when she happened to see a poster promoting The Shack. The store by that time had sold more than 100 copies of the novel, with many purchasing several copies to give to friends and family.

Because Wilson has a good working relationship with Hachette’s Faithbooks imprint (famed Bible teacher and author Joyce Meyer previously visited the Fairhope bookstore), she decided to bring Young here as well.

“It was already one of those buzz books where people buy more than one,” she said. “The story behind the book is just as inspirational. People are craving for this to be true. It’s got so many layers in it that you need to read it more than once.”

Young receives up to 200 e-mails each day from people telling him how much the book means to them.

He said, “It’s a praise and a blessing. People are having conversations with their friends and family. I’m not perturbed about the controversy in some circles. I’m amazed and so grateful that I get to be a part of this. I have no agenda to change the world. I am so aware this is about Him and not about me. I get to play in His sandbox. I carry His bags.”

For more information, contact Page & Palette at (251) 928-5295, or visit online at www.pageandpalette.com. The author will exclusively sign all books purchased from Page & Palette.