The Shelter Cycle

Two people raised in an end-times sect reunite years later: “A stunning novel about faith and disillusionment and the lingering power of the past.” —Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers

Written by a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and inspired by true events, The Shelter Cycle tells the story of two children, Francine and Colville, who grew up in the Church Universal and Triumphant, a religion that predicted the world could end in the late 1980s. While their parents built underground shelters to withstand the impending Soviet missile strike, Francine and Colville played in the Montana wilderness, where invisible spirits watched over them. When the prophesied apocalypse did not occur, the sect’s members resurfaced and the children were forced to grow up in a world they believed might no longer exist.

Twenty years later, Francine and Colville are reunited while searching for an abducted girl in Idaho. Haunted by memories and inculcated beliefs, they must confront the Church’s teachings. If all the things they were raised to believe were misguided, why then do they suddenly feel so true?

“Eerie [and] engrossing.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A metaphysically haunting, shape-shifting novel that keeps the reader off balance and can’t be fully appreciated until its climax.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)