A Goodreads Most Anticipated Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror Book of 2024
Jimmy Fallon's Book Club Top Four Pick
For fans of Never Let Me Go and The Giver, an elegant and exhilarating literary speculative novel about an isolated town neighbored by its own past and future, and a young girl who spots two elderly visitors from across the border: the grieving parents of the boy she loves.
Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she'll decide who may cross her town's heavily guarded borders. On the other side, it's the same valley, the same town. Except to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it's twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness.
When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn't supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he's still alive in Odile's present.
Edme—who is brilliant, funny, and the only person to truly see Odile—is about to die. Sworn to secrecy in order to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil's top candidate. Yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, imperiling her entire future.
A breathlessly moving "unique take on the intersection of fate and free will" (Nikki Erlick, author of The Measure), The Other Valley is "a stellar debut, full of heartbreak and hope wrapped up in gorgeous prose" (Christina Dalcher, author of Vox).
A Goodreads Most Anticipated Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror Book of 2024
Jimmy Fallon's Book Club Top Four Pick
For fans of Never Let Me Go and The Giver, an elegant and exhilarating literary speculative novel about an isolated town neighbored by its own past and future, and a young girl who spots two elderly visitors from across the border: the grieving parents of the boy she loves.
Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she'll decide who may cross her town's heavily guarded borders. On the other side, it's the same valley, the same town. Except to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it's twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness.
When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn't supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he's still alive in Odile's present.
Edme—who is brilliant, funny, and the only person to truly see Odile—is about to die. Sworn to secrecy in order to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil's top candidate. Yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, imperiling her entire future.
A breathlessly moving "unique take on the intersection of fate and free will" (Nikki Erlick, author of The Measure), The Other Valley is "a stellar debut, full of heartbreak and hope wrapped up in gorgeous prose" (Christina Dalcher, author of Vox).
Reviews-
-
December 18, 2023
Howard debuts with a moving tale of time travel and teen friendship. Odile, 16, grows up in an unnamed valley town that serves as a kind of administrative buffer zone between the past and the future. Bordering to the west is an identical town that is 20 years behind her own, and to the east, Odile’s same town 20 years ahead. Residents of each iteration are only allowed to visit another timespace if they get approval from a governing body called the Conseil, which only grants permission to those grieving a loved one’s untimely death, so they can view the person from a distance while the person is still alive. Odile’s school offers an apprentice program for various trades, and she is vying for a coveted spot in the Conseil. One day on the schoolyard, she sees three masked people in the distance, looking at her classmate Edme, and realizes they are time travelers, which means that Edme will prematurely die. An unexpected friendship forms between the two, but when the Conseil learns of Odile’s discovery, they urge her not to intervene in Edme’s fate. She can’t help herself, however, and her actions lead to surprising and heartrending results. This will leave readers with plenty to chew on. Agent: Roz Foster, Frances Goldin Literary. -
Listeners are drawn into multiple universes in this contemplative story about a vaguely French valley surrounded by a lake, mountains, and tall fences on all sides. To the east of this valley is an identical one-- only it's 20 years in the future--and to the west is another valley--20 years in the past. The soft, reassuring voice of narrator Cindy Kay helps listeners understand the complexities of time travel, societal priorities, and harsh penalties for those who violate the rules set by a governing body called the Conseil. The heroine of this speculative fiction is Odile, a 16-year-old girl who is preparing for her career and falling in love with a budding musician. Kay's voice is unhurried and comforting as Odile confronts her many conflicts, internal and external. This novel is unique, suspenseful, literary, and complex. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
-
May 1, 2024
Howard's haunting debut follows 16-year-old Odile, who lives in a village governed by the intriguing dictates of time: to the east lies an identical town, 20 years ahead of Odile's time, and to the west is the same town, 20 years behind. Pressured by her prickly mother, Odile competes for a chance to apprentice with the Conseil, a group that closely monitors border crossings and considers the ramifications of moving from one time to another. When Odile accidentally encounters devastating information about a possible future, her carefully laid plans and hoped-for dreams are upended. Narrator Cindy Kay brilliantly gives voice to Odile, capturing her affectless demeanor, paralyzed by the seemingly arbitrary rules of her community even as she thrills at her own acumen and insight. Kay skillfully allows moments of deep emotion to surface--a parent's grief at being kept from their lost child, the piercing joy of newfound love--while communicating the suffocating dread inscribed within village life. VERDICT Beautifully imagined speculative fiction. This stirring portrait of one woman's determination to survive and right the wrongs of the past will resonate with fans of Caroline Hardaker's Mothtown.--Sarah Hashimoto
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
