Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon Published by Ballantine Books on July 26th 2016
Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction
Pages: 416
Format: eBook, Kindle Book
Source: NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books
In this captivating novel from the author of Wife 22, a woman who feels lost in her own time stumbles across a California community that has, impossibly, been marooned in the early twentieth century perfect for readers of The Time Traveler's Wife, Time and Again, and Sarah Addison Allen.
Lux is a single mom struggling to make her way when she discovers an idyllic community in the Sonoma Valley. It seems like a place from another time until she realizes it actually is. Lux must keep one foot in her world, raising her son as well as she can with the odds stacked against her, but every day she is more strongly drawn in by the sweet simplicity of life in Greengage, and by the irresistible connection she feels with a man born decades before her. Soon she finds herself torn between her ties to the modern world, her adored son and the first place she has ever felt truly at home.
**Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for supplying my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
What happens when two worlds collide? Can the past meet the present and more so intersect with the future.
Valley of the Moon is a wonderful book set in what feels like a time travel phenomena. The people of Greengage Farm have been captured in a different time dimension. The year is 1906. An earthquake had hit the farm and the 200 people community had lost every contact with the world outside … Imprisoned behind a fog, anyone who tries to leave through this fog is doomed to die.
Lux is a single mom who is struggling to make the ends meet. She loves to take some time for herself to camp. While camping in Sonoma, she sees a light. Curious, she goes through the fog to explore it. Amazingly, she steps out of the fog to find herself stepping into a different time and among different people. It takes her a while to realize that she had already travelled in time.
Lux is the light of hope for the Greengage community. They thought the fog couldn’t be defeated. Now, they have Lux to prove otherwise. But Lux is also a window to the future. And how bewildered they were to listen to Lux tell them what had come of the world. As Lux steps between the two worlds in her time travel trips, months go by. And each time she stays in Greengage, Lux and Joseph get closer. However, love doesn’t come free of sacrifices and pain.
Valley of the moon is a book that touched me deeply. There was a lot to consider and a lot to think about. When two people from different worlds fall in love, what are their chances to a happy life? And what are the sacrifices? Moreover, what is the real meaning of time? I kept thinking about that as Lux was aging differently in both worlds.
Valley of the Moon was such a wonderful read. I enjoyed reading it and enjoyed following Lux and Joseph in their two worlds. I was happy, touched, sad, enchanted… I had all the feelings. The writing style was so good. Above all, the ending was very touching.
About Melanie Gideon
Melanie Gideon is the author of the memoir The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After, an NPR and San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2009, and a New York Times bestseller, as well as three young adult novels. Her latest novel, Wife 22, will be translated into 26 languages and is currently in development with Working Title Films. She has written for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, More, Shape, Marie Claire, the London Times, the Daily Mail and other publications. She was born and raised in Rhode Island and now lives in the Bay Area with her husband and son. Wife 22 is her first novel for adults.