The Other Valley

A Novel

By: Scott Alexander Howard

Narrated by: Cindy Kay

*Soon to be a TV series*
Jimmy Fallon’s Book Club Top Four Pick and a PBS Book Club Pick

For fans of Kazuo Ishiguro and Emily St. John Mandel, this “mind-bending take on time travel” (The New York Times) is 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 vies for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decide who may cross her town’s heavily guarded borders. 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 know Odile—is going to die. Sworn to secrecy to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil’s top candidate. Yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, jeopardizing her entire future.

The Other Valley is “thought-provoking exploration of ethics, power, love, and time travel” (Kirkus Reviews).

Critic reviews

"Kay's voice is unhurried and comforting as Odile confronts her many conflicts, internal and external. This novel is unique, suspenseful, literary, and complex."

Interesting and thought provoking!

A thought provoking story about physical time travel. This was an interesting and ultimately a satisfying read.

Not my cup of tea.

Creative premise but by halfway through it just wasn’t getting my attention. The narrator was a whisperer which annoys me. I had to turn the volume on high and could barely hear in the car. I wish she would use a stage voice over acting like she was trying not to be overheard.

A very interesting and captivating plot

Great plot and great narration throughout the complete novel. The story creates a wonder land of imagined possibilities

Great story

Narration was a bit on the sadder side but I still enjoyed it! Gives it a nostalgic feel.

Loved this book! Immediately read it again!

Suspenseful. Thought provoking. Relatable characters.
Imagine the possibilities and consequences of a world where you could just take a peek forward or backward in time with a good enough reason.
This book had me asking myself all kinds of hypothetical questions and dissecting the details of infinite scenarios of how things might change.
Is it worth the risk?