NEPM Book Club
Do you love to read? So do we! Join us for the NEPM Book Club — a quarterly virtual meet-up dedicated to bringing readers together to chat about new, diverse and interesting fiction.
Our next meeting will be Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. We'll be reading "Seek Immediate Shelter" by Vincent Yu, who will be joining us for a Q&A!
The NEPM Book Club is sponsored by Cooper's Corner and State Street Deli & Fruit Store, Whalen Insurance, Curran & Keegan Financial, Broadside Bookshop and UMass Five Credit Union.
ABOUT THE NOVEL
On an otherwise unremarkable morning, the residents of a small town in Massachusetts all receive the same alert: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Confronted with the options of fight or flight, planning or panicking, the people of Beckitt are stripped to their basest instincts and revealed as their truest selves. Then the second message comes in: FALSE ALARM. PLEASE DISREGARD. ALL CLEAR. First comes relief, then comes the reckoning, as each person is forced to face the unforeseen aftermath of decisions they thought might be their last.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Longmeadow, Massachusetts native Vincent Yu is a sales manager at W.W. Norton/Liveright and the winner of the 2021 Ashley Bourne Prize for fiction from Ploughshares. "Seek Immediate Shelter" is his debut novel. His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, StoryQuarterly, Ninth Letter, Able Muse, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.
MEET THE BOOK CLUB HOST
Erin O’Neill is a dedicated bibliophile and NEPM’s director of digital engagement. A lifelong obsessive reader and lover of stories, Erin hosts and organizes NEPM Book Club meetings — and comes up with discussion questions!
GET THE BOOK
Need to get your copy of the latest Book Club selection? Please consider buying from one of our local NEPM Book Club partners.
Broadside Bookshop in Northampton »
Massive Bookshop, an online bookseller in Greenfield »
Olive Tree Books-n-Voices in Springfield »
Or, pick up "Seek Immediate Shelter" from your local library.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
NEPM Book Club members can help select books for us to read. Do you have a favorite novel? Is there a piece of fiction that’s on your to-read list? Email your suggestions to bookclub@nepm.org!