ELSEWHERE

At boarding school in Wales in 1914, 11-year-old Elsie discovers how extraordinary she is.

When the invitation to enroll in Miss Coleridge’s Academy for Gifted Youths arrives for Elsie Clarke, a London resident who’s originally from Australia, she’s puzzled—no one in her family has heard of the school. But with war looming, her ostensibly neglectful parents—a plot point that isn’t believably developed—decide to send her there. After she arrives, Elsie is surprised to discover that she, along with eight others, are Gifted: Unlike their merely academically talented classmates, they each have a special ability—invisibility, acute hearing, super strength, and so on—which they must keep secret even as they’re covertly mentored. Elsie, who’s cued white, discovers that she’s a Guardian, someone with the Gift of being able to open Gateways to Elsewhere. As the war breaks out, Elsie and the other Gifted are disturbed by the headmistress’ plan to turn the school into a military academy, and they band together to try to get rid of her. The heavy reliance on telling rather than showing deadens the interesting premise, and the overt themes of respecting differences and not becoming intolerant like grown-ups are delivered with unleavened earnestness. In monologues, Elsie spouts insights far beyond her age and life experience that don’t feel authentic to her characterization and mostly come across as preachy and sanctimonious.

An imaginative plot undermined by weak delivery.