The Elsewhere Express: A Novel
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The Elsewhere Express: A Novel

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  • AuthorSamantha Sotto Yambao
  • PublisherDel Rey
  • Pages464
  • ISBN9780593725047

About this book

When you lose your way in life, the Elsewhere Express just might find you. Step on board the train that may take you to your life’s purpose in this wistful, Ghibli-esque fantasy from the bestselling author of Water Moon.

“A delicately layered dream of a book that glimmers with the promise of hope after grief, The Elsewhere Express will carry you to the stars.”—Molly O’Neill, author of Greenteeth

You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train seeming to carry very rare and special cargo: a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging.

Raya is one of those lost souls. She had dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead.

One day on the subway, as her thoughts wander, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, an intriguing artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world.

Together they find a train full of wonders, from a boarding car that’s also a meadow to a dining car where passengers can picnic on lily pads to a bar where jellyfish and whales swim through pink clouds.

Over the course of their long, strange night on the train, they also discover that it harbors secrets—and danger: A mysterious stranger has stowed away and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train.

But in investigating the stowaway's identity, Raya also finds herself drawing closer to the ultimate question: What is her life's true purpose—and is it a destination the Elsewhere Express can take her to?

★ “A stunning, visual fever dream of a story akin to both the game Spiritfarer and Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea—a character-driven tale wrapped in a sparklingly creative spectacle of a world that inhabits a Studio Ghibli–like chaos even as it comes with a well-organized passenger rulebook.”—Booklist (starred review)

Author: Samantha Sotto Yambao
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2026-10-20
Pages: 464
ISBN: 9780593725047

Praise for this book

A sparklingly creative spectacle of a world that inhabits a Studio Ghibli–like chaos.
★ Booklist
The Elsewhere Express reads like a Ghibli movie. I loved following these deeply hurt, broken, and lost characters on this Alice-in-Wonderland-esque adventure with Miyazaki flair. Its musical prose, vast imagination, and exploratory storytelling will spirit you away.
Charlie N. Holmberg , bestselling author of the Whimbrel House series
The Elsewhere Express is nothing short of exquisite. Luminous and soulful, it will enchant you with its dreamy, whimsical charm even while it carries you through an exploration of such profound subjects as loss and the purpose of life. I am dazzled by Samantha Sotto Yambao’s extraordinarily beautiful imagination.
India Holton , author of The League of Gentlewomen Witches
A delicately layered dream of a book that glimmers with the promise of hope after grief, The Elsewhere Express will carry you to the stars.
Molly O’Neill , author of Greenteeth
The Elsewhere Express is a gorgeous story about finding your place somewhere in between two great inevitabilities: love, and loss.
Sydney J. Shields , national bestselling author of The Honey Witch
The Elsewhere Express is not just thought-provoking but dream-provoking: with pages upon pages of sensory marvels apt to enliven your own idle thoughts (as they did mine!). This uniquely painterly story, full of songs and spectacle, is fueled by a dauntless hopefulness that I hope might find its way into my own dreams as well.
Sylvie Cathrall , author of A Letter to the Luminous Deep

Quoted in excerpt, with attribution. Follow a source link for the full review.