Somewhere

Somewhere by Shelby Matheson. Wombat Books 2026. MG Paperback 362 pages. RRP $21.99. ISBN: 978-1-76111-223-2

Reviewed by Debra Williams

This book is the second in the Elsewhere series. In the first book, set during World War 1 in 1915, eleven-year-old Elsie Clarke is sent to a mysterious school in the woods for only the most talented children. But fewer still, the Gifted, are invited to the other side; a sentient forest called Elsewhere with a magical secret. Elsie’s world is transformed by the knowledge of Gifts-special talents born from their traits, desires and fears. These are talents the children will need when the formidable headmistress reveals that she’ll do whatever it takes to win the war, robbing the students of their childhood.

In Somewhere, Elsie has been made a guardian: one who helps the others. The start of a new semester means new surprises at Miss Coleridge’s Academy for Gifted Youths. Elsie does her best to be a good guardian, but some terrible mistakes cause Elsewhere’s trust in her to falter. At the same time, Gifted children from around the world have gone missing, taken somewhere Elsewhere’s Gateways can’t reach.

Their teacher, Madam Tryll, has been estranged from her daughter Violet for four years. Now Violet returns, offering Elsie a way to keep Gifts for good rather than borrowing them, but the deal comes with a hefty price. Do the ends truly justify the means?

At 362 pages, this book is a large read. It is a complex story that confident readers in the target age group may enjoy, and the author has left the ending open for a third book. Just an observation: some of the young male readers in the target age group may be uncomfortable with the description of Elsie suddenly having her first period in the night, in Chapter 8, and the graphic description of the blood.

 

Somewhere is designed for readers 10+ years of age.