The Elsewhere Express

Raya is a lost soul, going through the motions of life without a dream of her own. One night, on her subway ride home, Raya’s thoughts wander too far. She wakes on the Elsewhere Express, a magical train that offers its passengers a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging. The train’s endless journey is a chance for Raya to reimagine her life – but only if she finds her compartment before time runs out. On board, Raya meets an intriguing artist named Q and together they race to find their place on the train, through a boarding car carpeted in meadow grass and along a dining carriage where passengers picnic on lilypads. But a mysterious stowaway has boarded with them, and with it a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train and everything in it. The closer Raya comes to uncovering the stowaway's identity, the nearer she draws to the ultimate question: what is her life's true purpose – and might Q be connected to it?

When people lose their purpose, they simply fade away - or do they? Step aboard The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao, a magical train where lost souls are given another chance. A whimsical, heartwarming tale of second chances, belonging, and the magic that lingers between the stars.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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. This hardcover edition includes: • Interactive endpapers with a scene you can color in • A full-color illustrated book case beneath the jacket "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)

One night, on her subway ride home, Raya’s thoughts wander too far. She wakes on the Elsewhere Express, a magical train that offers its passengers a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging. The train’s endless journey is a chance for Raya to reimagine her life – but only if she finds her compartment before time runs out.