The Other Valley

A Goodreads Most Anticipated Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror Book of 2024. For fans of "Never Let Me Go" and "The Giver," this elegant and exhilarating literary speculative novel tells the story of an isolated town connected to 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. However, to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time, and 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 to preserve the timeline, Odile 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").