Set in an unnamed valley – surrounded by other valleys, each twenty years apart in time – a literary speculative novel in which the Conseil determines if a bereaved resident can cross the border to the past or the future on a "mourning tour." One sixteen-year-old Conseil candidate spots two visitors from the future, but is shocked when she recognizes them as the parents of the boy she loves.
Transfixing ... A thoughtful, character-based reckoning with time and fate, destiny and free will ... While at times the novel reads like a thriller, and a coming-of-age story, every page is imbued with complex questions and even more complex answers.
A mind-bending take on time travel ... A slow-boiling philosophical thriller when Odile reaches adulthood ... The novel’s lasting impression is not its ideas, but the rich landscape. Howard has a naturalist’s gift for the pastoral.
