Elsewhere

In the same vein as Shirley Jackson and Margret Atwood, this dystopian novel has a lot to say about motherhood and identity. High in the mountains lay an isolated community where every so often a mother would disappear. It was quite common, in fact it was expected. Some mornings the women all woke up and felt themselves pulled along until they came to the house of whomever had disappeared. A father clutching his children would come outside and the women would go in and remove every trace of her, all her personal items would be taken to the op shop - all her photos and anything written in her hand would be burned. Soon she would be forgotten. When Vera is young, her mother is one of the ones who disappeared. She settled into a solitary routine with her father and two friends until one day a stranger came to town. Not once in her lifetime had someone other than Mr. Phillips (their supplier) come to town. Can the stranger be trusted? What does it mean. For Vera, everything will change. Weird, unique, and affecting.