The Other Valley

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.

Starred review from January 1, 2024

DEBUT Howard's debut novel explores time and the choices made in a lifetime as it considers whether future events are inevitable or stoppable. The story is set in a valley whose borders are reinforced by mountains, formidable fences, and armed men. No one can leave. But what lies in wait if one manages to reach the neighboring lands? The crossing is measured not in distance but time. Journeying east or west means traveling into the future or the past by 20 years. Tension mounts as heroine Odile sees the echoes of her choices as she trains to become one of the keepers of the valley's timeline. What would one risk for the chance to see long dead loved ones, knowing that just over the mountains they still exist? It is clear, however, that those in power would do anything to maintain the status quo of time and fate. VERDICT This gripping speculative novel will make for wonderful book club discussions.--Mary E. Butler

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Starred review from January 1, 2024
Sixteen-year-old Odile is in competition for a prestigious apprenticeship at the Conseil. Meanwhile, she has secretly fallen in love with violinist Edme, who hopes to attend the conservatory although his parents forbid it. Odile hides Edme's violin at her house, and every evening the two go clandestinely to the forest and practice. After observing something she wasn't supposed to, Odile realizes that Edme is in terrible danger but is unable to warn him, and he falls from a cliff to his death. Devastated, Odile drops out of the competition. Flash forward 20 years. Odile, a gendarme, guards the heavily fortified border to the next valley, which is identical to her own but two decades in the past. Desperate to prevent Edme's death, she breeches the border fence and rushes to the other valley to save him. Howard's speculative first novel is told in Odile's sometimes affectless, first-person voice, infusing the narrative with an air of melancholy that becomes increasingly ominous. While the book demands careful reading because of its many complexities, it is beautifully written ("the windy genuflections of the treetops," "branches topped with slender wrists of snow," "daggers of sunlight") and peopled with fully realized, multidimensional characters. It is a triumph.

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Starred review from January 15, 2024
A solitary young woman grows up in a secretive and eerie village that shares its borders with both its future and its past in this stunning debut. At 16, Odile Ozanne exists in a world where the entire course of her life has already been determined. Or so she thinks. To the west of the mountains bordering the unnamed village where she lives is an identical small town that exists 20 years in the past. Far off to the east is another identical town that exists 20 years in the future. The villages continue to repeat, stretching throughout the wilderness for unknown reasons. The shared borders are closely guarded: no one is allowed to visit the past or the future without express permission from a group of powerful decision-makers known as the Conseil. That group makes sure that any visits are carried out as smoothly and anonymously as possible so as not to disturb the existing timeline in any way. When Odile accidentally witnesses her friend Edme's parents crossing the border, she realizes they're coming from a future in which her friend must no longer exist; so begins her struggle to keep a secret that could alter everyone's lives for better or for worse. While the more keen-eyed fans of time travel might discover a loophole or two, Howard's singularly beautiful and wholly original coming-of-age story will capture the minds of his readers. Not only is this novel a quiet meditation on grief and love, but it also finds itself in conversation with larger philosophical debates such as the nature of mortality, fate versus free will, and how far a person will go--and what they're willing to risk--to spend more time with those they love. A thought-provoking exploration of ethics, power, love, and time travel that is perfect for fans of Ishiguro and McEwan.

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