A review by kendallbridgete
The Shadows: The Books of Elsewhere: Volume 1 by Jacqueline West

4.0

11-year-old Olive Dunwoody moves into the old McMartin house on Linden Street. There are so many old and mysterious objects around the house, including numerous paintings that cannot be removed from the wall. Olive finds an old pair of glasses and discovers that when she wears them, she can travel into the paintings to a strange world called Elsewhere. Things feel “off” in the Dunwoody house, almost as if the house itself is keeping secrets. Olive meets a young boy named Morton; trapped in a painting of a spooky forest, she helps Morton escape into a painting of his house on his street—Linden Street, where Olive now lives (and Morton’s house is the house of her current next-door neighbor). Olive meets three talking cats, who used to belong to the McMartin family; despite their ability to talk, the cats are very cryptic and clearly keeping many secrets themselves about the house, the paintings, and their former masters. Will Olive be able to uncover the secrets of the paintings? Should she try to help the mysterious people who live in Elsewhere? Can she trust the talking cats? Will Olive be able to overcome the sinister powers in the house that want her and her parents to leave?