For fans of David Mitchell Ruth Ozeki and Kazuo Ishiguro 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 shell decide who may cross her towns heavily guarded borders. On the other side its the same valley the same town. Except to the east the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west its twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness. When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasnt 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 hes still alive in Odiles 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 Conseils 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).
