The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard just came out this week, but the novel, according to Deadline, has already been picked up by Working Title Television, the studio behind projects like Everything I Know About Love and We Are Lady Parts.
The book takes place in a town nestled into a valley. On either side of it, the same town exists either twenty years in the past or twenty years in the future. It follows a woman named Odile who, as a teenager, strives to become a member of the group that oversees requests to cross the heavily guarded borders to visit the future or the past. She inadvertently sees an older version of the parents of a boy she loves visiting, which burdens her with the knowledge that he his going to die soon. Events unfold from there.
I had the chance to read The Other Valley and can see why Working Title Television picked it up for series adaptation. The story fits well in a television format and explores hefty, emotional themes through Odile’s experience. The novel is Howard’s debut, but his background includes getting a post-doctorate fellowship at Harvard where he focused on the relationship between memory, emotion, and literature, which tracks with the themes of his first novel.
The project is still in its very early days—there’s no network or streaming platform attached yet—so there are a lot of hurdles that need to be crossed before we have the chance to see it on the small screen. Here’s hoping that the series moves forward soon.
