Elsewhere tells the story of Vera, a young girl, then woman, living in an insular and isolated mountain village, a place both familiar and strange, idyllic and foreboding, where mothers suffer an “affliction” which causes some of them to disappear.
No one knows exactly where or how they go, they just disappear seemingly into the misty clouds of their mountaintops leaving behind husbands and children and friends, never to be spoken of again. This unique affliction causes mothers of the village to be both revered and scrutinized for who will be the next mother to disappear?
Elsewhere is a meditation on both motherhood and childhood, two halves of a whole. This timeless speculative fiction is reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale not in content exactly, but in that it offers a very narrow scope of view with sort of peripheral peeks at broader context. And similarly to Handmaid not all questions will be resolved, but Elsewhere does tie up enough loose ends to be a wholly satisfying read.
A unique take on well trodden ground. I dug the themes and world building and dreamy almost fairytale quality. The writing is excellent with plenty of provoking, quotable lines.
Elsewhere would make an excellent book for group discussion and at little more than 200 pages your book club might actually read it 😉
Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for an advanced review copy.
That Bookish Life 