200,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Black Friday Sale on Now! Save up to 25% off Books, Toys, Board Games, & Puzzles! ✨

The Elsewhere Express

By Samantha Sotto Yambao
0.0 (0 reviews)
Brief Description
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... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2800
Pre-order
Releases 26th January 2027 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "The Elsewhere Express" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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?

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781804993316

Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 22 October 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin (Transworld)

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 309g

Pages: 448

Collections

Coming Soon in Fiction Cosy Crime Crime & Thriller Fantasy Fiction General Fiction Penguin Books Pre-order Books Pre-order Romantasy Pre-Order Science Fiction & Fantasy Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date Romance Romantasy (Fantasy Romance) Samantha Sotto Yambao Sci-Fi & Fantasy

About the Author

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.

Also by Samantha Sotto Yambao

View all
  • On Sale
    26% off
    Water Moon
    A young woman inherits a Tokyo pawn shop where you can sell your deepest regrets, sparking a dream-like and magical adventure—Before the Coffee Gets Cold meets Studio Ghibli. On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see only a cosy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Water Moon
    A young woman inherits a Tokyo pawn shop where you can sell your deepest regrets, sparking a dream-like and magical adventure—Before the Coffee Gets Cold meets Studio Ghibli. On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see only a cosy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Elsewhere Express
    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...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Love and Gravity
    Pre-order
    Love and Gravity
    Fans of The Time Traveler's Wife—a young Isaac Newton defies the laws of physics to forge a seemingly impossible connection with a woman living in modern-day San Francisco. Andrea Louviere is seven years old the first time she sees him—a shiver of light, a crack in her bedroom wall, and a boy from another time looking back at her. Then,...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    Pre-order
    Out 4 Feb 2027
  • Before Ever After
    Pre-order
    Before Ever After
    A time travel romance with a twist, from the bestselling author of Water Moon Three years after her husband Max's death, Shelley is still adjusting to the silence he left behind. Then the doorbell rings. On her doorstep stands a young man so like Max, it's impossible to look away—same eyes, same smile, same age—and offering an impossible story. Paolo...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    Pre-order
    Out 18 Feb 2027
  • A Dream of Trees
    Pre-order
    A Dream of Trees
    The door never changes, but the rooms behind it do. Bonsai artist Shiori Ametsuchi never knows where the door will lead her next. All she knows is that whoever she finds in these rooms will be dead before she leaves. With no memory of her past, Shiori has been thrust into a life of walking through a mysterious door and...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $2800
    Pre-order
    Out 21 Jan 2027
  • The Beginning of Always
    Pre-order
    The Beginning of Always
    Elise Grier found everything she was looking for when she moved to Paris. But after she nearly drowns in the Seine on New Year's Eve, something changes. She begins to remember a past that isn't hers. Haunted by visions of a 19th century woman who shares her face, Elise is drawn into a mystery that stretches across centuries - and...
    By Samantha Sotto Yambao
    Paperback
    $2800
    Pre-order
    Out 11 Mar 2027

Browse lists from our team

The Latest at Book Hero

View all

More from Sci-Fi & Fantasy

View all
  • He Who Fights With Monsters: Hero
    New Release
    He Who Fights With Monsters: Hero
    Book Three in Shirtaloon's wildly popular LitRPG series. For all that Jason's new life is amazing, he is about to learn that his new power, wealth, and influence come at a price... Riding high on success, he and his team prepare for what comes next, but nothing can prepare them for what their enemies have planned. When magic enters the...
    By Shirtaloon and Travis Deverell
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    12% off
    New Release
    Other Worlds Than These
    I wanted to go back to Mid-World, which was always the Territories by another name - Stephen King This is Stephen King and Peter Straub's epic and unforgettable finale to the Talisman Trilogy (including the novels The Talisman and Black House) and a wrapping up of the fate of the worlds in King's iconic, fiercely beloved Dark Tower epic. It...
    By Stephen King and Peter Straub
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Sixth Nik
    On Sale
    16% off
    New Release
    The Sixth Nik
    Daniel Kraus, 2026 Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Angel Down and soon-to-be-a-film Whalefall, returns with The Sixth Nik, a galaxy spanning, genre-blending scifi literary horror, for fans of Ursula K Le Guin and the Alien franchise. Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The Sickness: a ship woven from biomatter and capable...
    By Daniel Kraus
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Massif
    New Release
    Massif
    Caught me a mountain Rode it to the stars It's business as usual for Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the corvette Sassafras. Ride a Massif to a new system, fight the enemy, repeat. For more than two hundred years, humans have been hitching rides on these sentient, starfaring mountain ranges, colonising planets and exporting an on-again, off-again...
    By Garth Nix
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • He Who Fights With Monsters: Adventurer
    On Sale
    16% off
    New Release
    He Who Fights With Monsters: Adventurer
    He Who Fights With Monsters: Adventurer Book Two in Shirtaloon's wildly popular LitRPG series. The path from retail middle management to interdimensional wizard adventurer wasn't easy, but Jason Asano is settling into his new life. Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone, competing for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he...
    By Shirtaloon and Travis Deverell
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Scion
    ‘Scion’ is an electrifying sci-fi thriller that follows a contract killer tasked with protecting a scientist from assassination, only to find himself in the crosshairs. My name’s Azure. I kill rich idiots for a living. All completely legal, of course, even if it does still make the old-fashioned crowd a bit uncomfortable. Once the ultra-wealthy realised they had a way...
    By James Islington
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    25% off
    Project Hail Mary
    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...
    By Andy Weir
    Paperback
    $1800
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    (5)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Strength of the Few
    The highly anticipated follow-up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023's most lauded and bestselling fantasy novels. The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am. But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore. I am no longer one. I won the...
    By James Islington
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Red Rising
    The first book in the incredible New York Times bestselling series Darrow is a Helldiver, toiling beneath the surface of Mars. As a member of the Red caste, he performs grueling labor in the belief that his sacrifice will enable future generations to one day inhabit the surface of the Red Planet. The Reds are humankind's lowest caste, living in...
    By Pierce Brown
    Paperback
    $2599
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    Backorder
    Ships late November
  • Crossroads of Ravens
    THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON RETURNS... Every legend has an origin - and Geralt of Rivia's begins here. In this brand-new chapter of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series, follow Geralt in his earliest days as a Witcher, as he faces monsters and humans alike. Discover the untold stories and encounters that shaped the iconic character known today. Crossroads of Ravens brings readers into...
    By Andrzej Sapkowski
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    23% off
    Wind and Truth
    The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the Number One New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson sees Dalinar Kholin challenge the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare, and the sudden ascension of the...
    By Brandon Sanderson
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Ministry of Time
    One of the 18 best novels of the year for the Sunday Times A book of the year for the New York Times, Guardian, Independent, Evening Standard, Spectator, Red, NPR, Vanity Fair, People, Slate, Advocate, Sydney Morning Herald, Globe and Mail, Den of Geek, Good Housekeeping, Goodreads, NetGalley and Smithsonian Magazine 'A sparkling delight' Observer 'Make room on your bookshelves...
    By Kaliane Bradley
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    Backorder
    Ships late November

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 200,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.