Available Formats
The Elsewhere Express
By (Author) Samantha Sotto Yambao
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group)
22nd February 2026
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Romance: fantasy and paranormal
Narrative theme: journeys and voyages
Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction
Narrative theme: identity / belonging
Narrative theme: coming of age
Crime and mystery: cosy mystery
Hardback
432
Width 156mm, Height 240mm, Spine 40mm
750g
A directionless young woman takes a magical train journey that will bring meaning to her life, but only if she can evade a dangerous stowaway and find her seat before time runs out... 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 a charming, handsome 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
Samantha Sotto Yambao is a professional daydreamer, aspiring time traveller, and speculative fiction writer based in Manila. She is the author of Before Ever After, Love and Gravity, A Dream of Trees, and The Beginning of Always. Water Moon, her latest novel and UK debut, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.