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Elsewhere
At the outbreak of World War I, eleven-year-old Elsie Clarke is shipped off to Wales to attend Miss Coleridge’s Academy for Gifted Youths. What at first appears to be an institution for talented academics soon reveals that ‘Gifted’ means something else entirely, and only the mysterious Madam Tryll holds the answers.

Only she can open the Gateway to The Place Where Lost Children Go – a sentient forest called Elsewhere with the power to enhance the talents, desires, and fears of unique souls. And then there’s Elsie, the newest Guardian, with the power to open the Gateways into Elsewhere, borrow Gifts in emergencies, and enhance other Gifts with her touch so that her Gifted friends can grow stronger. But Elsie’s powers are unpredictable and her new role as mentor comes with a lot of responsibility.

Meanwhile, the war rages on, and the headmistress believes the students are the solution. She intends to push them to their academic limit, training them in the art of war, stripping them of their childhood. The Gifted must use their newfound talents to bring down her awful regime and win a battle of their own. But with the war growing ever closer to home, Elsie can’t help but feel like Elsewhere has been recruiting them too, training them for something bigger than just school.

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Elsewhere
At the outbreak of World War I, eleven-year-old Elsie Clarke is shipped off to Wales to attend Miss Coleridge’s Academy for Gifted Youths. What at first appears to be an institution for talented academics soon reveals that ‘Gifted’ means something else entirely, and only the mysterious Madam Tryll holds the answers.

Only she can open the Gateway to The Place Where Lost Children Go – a sentient forest called Elsewhere with the power to enhance the talents, desires, and fears of unique souls. And then there’s Elsie, the newest Guardian, with the power to open the Gateways into Elsewhere, borrow Gifts in emergencies, and enhance other Gifts with her touch so that her Gifted friends can grow stronger. But Elsie’s powers are unpredictable and her new role as mentor comes with a lot of responsibility.

Meanwhile, the war rages on, and the headmistress believes the students are the solution. She intends to push them to their academic limit, training them in the art of war, stripping them of their childhood. The Gifted must use their newfound talents to bring down her awful regime and win a battle of their own. But with the war growing ever closer to home, Elsie can’t help but feel like Elsewhere has been recruiting them too, training them for something bigger than just school.

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Elsewhere

Elsewhere

by Shelby Matheson
Elsewhere

Elsewhere

by Shelby Matheson

Overview

At the outbreak of World War I, eleven-year-old Elsie Clarke is shipped off to Wales to attend Miss Coleridge’s Academy for Gifted Youths. What at first appears to be an institution for talented academics soon reveals that ‘Gifted’ means something else entirely, and only the mysterious Madam Tryll holds the answers.

Only she can open the Gateway to The Place Where Lost Children Go – a sentient forest called Elsewhere with the power to enhance the talents, desires, and fears of unique souls. And then there’s Elsie, the newest Guardian, with the power to open the Gateways into Elsewhere, borrow Gifts in emergencies, and enhance other Gifts with her touch so that her Gifted friends can grow stronger. But Elsie’s powers are unpredictable and her new role as mentor comes with a lot of responsibility.

Meanwhile, the war rages on, and the headmistress believes the students are the solution. She intends to push them to their academic limit, training them in the art of war, stripping them of their childhood. The Gifted must use their newfound talents to bring down her awful regime and win a battle of their own. But with the war growing ever closer to home, Elsie can’t help but feel like Elsewhere has been recruiting them too, training them for something bigger than just school.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781761112140
Publisher: Exisle Publishing
Publication date: 05/13/2025
Series: Elsewhere , #1
Pages: 280
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range: 10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Shelby Matheson is a born-and-raised Australian, currently residing in the quiet, beachside town of Hervey Bay, Queensland. She has a Bachelor in journalism and creative writing, and a graduate diploma in editing and publishing from USQ. She has been writing full-length novels since she was fourteen and has always known that being an author is the only career for her. In her spare time, she enjoys video games, drawing, crochet, collecting books (and even reading them), but her greatest passion will always be writing and escaping to the worlds in her head. 

Her debut novel, Elsewhere, was inspired by the sense of wonder and awe of classic children’s novels such as Narnia, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Secret Garden, and more. Elsewhere pays tribute to these classics through Easter eggs and similar tropes. The series stays true to the timeline and facts of World War I, exploring the horrors of the time through the eyes of a child, creating a symbolic parallel between the pains of adolescence and the extreme changes that the world went through during the war.

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