A 10-years-in-the-making success story, the Vermont College of Fine Art (VCFA) graduate Abigail Hing Wen launched her first middle grade fiction book “The Vale” on Sept. 16 and became an instant New York Times bestseller. The illustrated novel’s message of resilience resonates with the book’s own story of becoming. 

“‘The Vale’ began as a dead book,” says Wen, who wrote it in 2015 as her creative thesis for VCFA’s Writing for Children and Young Adults program. 

“Ten years ago, I had to bury it. It never saw the light of day. It never went out to publishers,” she says. 

Wen shelved the original manuscript because the story featured technological elements considered ahead of their time: a virtual-reality (VR) fantasy world developed with generative artificial intelligence (AI). “I had to do other things along the way, I had to publish four book titles and I made a movie.” Wen returned to the project when she saw the relevance of today’s VR technology and AI generation usage, alongside its pitfalls including copyright, bias, and safety regulation. 

In “The Vale,” a family of inventors create the Portal, an immersive software developed by “homegrown” and “clean AI.” But they can’t catch a break despite years of hard work. Believing in ethical engineering as the key to ethical technology, the Lee family — a husband-wife team and their teen son — train the software’s virtual-reality environment, The Vale. They use public domain content and the imagination of 13-year-old Bran Joseph Lee, who helps create, with his elf friend Gnomly, a fantasy world where he can create a retreat from everyday struggles. 

In this coming-of-age story, Bran enters a high-stakes competition in the Lees’ software in an attempt to save his family from financial ruin and preserve their dreams. But strange events follow as Bran tries to solve several mysteries, including the software’s changes. 

Acting with a mind of its own, The Vale begins to vanish, starting with Gnomly. Regardless of challenges that appear in the dual worlds, Bran doesn’t give up. 

Bran, along with Gnomly, guides readers through a family-friendly adventure within the middle grade sci-fi and fantasy genre while bridging a gap in fictional worlds and representation with a wide cast of characters from different cultural backgrounds and a shared love of storytelling.

“It’s an example of hanging in there,” says Wen, who has become a New York Times bestselling author since graduating from VCFA. 

Along with publication, “The Vale” has inspired an Elfberry Blue ice cream flavor, and has been adapted into a Roblox game, along with Wen’s directorial debut as a short film prequel. 

Within “The Vale’s” two storylines of Bran’s World and Bran’s Vale, chapters alternate between modern-day Silicon Valley and The Vale, a virtual-reality world opening the door to the complex topic of AI, ranging from frightening to promising possibilities. But don’t be fooled. Though “The Vale” flits between one world generated by AI and the other by the technology industry, at its heart it is a story about claiming your voice and the perseverance of making dreams a reality.

Like the Lee Family, Abigail Hing Wen is no stranger to invention or dreams. 

Wen’s story of reclaiming her voice begins with her own dream of becoming an author after establishing a law career in venture capital as a tech-leader, living in Silicon Valley, where she saw new start-ups coming through. 

“It’s all inventors and people with a dream to change the world through technology,” much of which seeped into her writing, Wen says. 

Abigail Hing Wen. Photo by Olga Pichkova.

Wen’s husband suggested she try writing a story one day. Wen thought he might as well have said, “Build a rocket ship.” But, upon trying it, the stories poured out of her. Her first attempt at a novel was the manuscript that would become “The Vale” over the next 10 years.

“As a lawyer, part of my job was thinking about ethics, risks, and safety issues. “The Vale” explores the possibilities and the pitfalls of technology, and I wanted to equip other people with the knowledge of what to look out for and what to take advantage of,” says Wen, adding that she is excited about the potential that technology holds to improve lives while understanding its dangers. 

Drawing on her former legal background and storytelling abilities to bridge the divides that arise within the U.S., Wen explores the prospect of engineering technology ethically in “The Vale,” as well as the individual’s agency to make good choices within the tech field. “My hope is that a story like this will encourage more ethical people like this to enter the field. Ethics is our guiding force for how we live in the world. There are so many hard things in this world. The more people try to do things for the right reasons, that spreads, too, and can make the world better for everyone,” says Wen. 

Wen threads the question of ethics and AI into “The Vale’s” parallel storylines without being heavy-handed, compelling readers to turn the pages with cliff-hanger chapter endings, humor, and heartfelt moments throughout each page. 

Readers who enjoy immersive storytelling with adventure, fantasy, and mystery elements reminiscent of Rebeca Stead’s “When You Reach Me,” Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” and “The Mysterious Benedict Society” will delight in “The Vale’s” contribution to the genre with its recognizable family dynamics and modern dilemmas. 

With 40 illustrations by Yuna Cheong and Brandon Wu, the visuals animate Bran’s dual worlds with magical tableaus while offering a glimpse into The Vale’s vast world-building.

“The Vale” offers readers a courageous journey through new and familiar worlds, navigating the trickiness of technology, alongside empowering messages celebrating family, friendship, and authenticity through immersive storytelling that successfully drives the plot forward with fun, real feels, and thrills, creating an uplifting and imaginative experience from beginning to end.

Interview with the Author

The Bridge: How do you navigate setting healthy parameters with your kids and emerging tech? 

AHW: Most executives in Silicon Valley don’t let their kids get on much tech before the age of 13. Or it is closely monitored. They don’t have their own phones. They can play video games or simple games on their parent’s phone. Sometimes a “family plan” is used so parents can see everything their kids are doing on phones and social media, especially. Whatever it is, there are so many websites out there and so many places that kids can disappear down, so I believe those are important principles. You have to monitor, you have to know, be aware; don’t put your head in the sand; be aware of what your kids have access to. That can surprise a lot of parents.

The Bridge: As readers discuss the ethical questions raised in “The Vale” about engineering generative AI, why do you believe working with integrity is important?

AHW: On a practical level, life is easier if you live with integrity. The role of trust and transparency contributes to one’s success. There can be a cost, but if there are more people doing that then we are all better off, so it is a collective benefit to everyone. At the end of the day, you have to live with yourself, and whoever you answer to, and be able to have a clear conscience. Your quality of life will be better off overall from a mental health perspective, as well as a practical one. The choices you make will impact everyone around you.

The Bridge: What’s one piece of advice you would want to offer readers on authoring their dreams?

AHW: By digging deep, knowing yourself, and trying to put out into the world what only you can put out into the world, that is how to make your mark. Write what you only know how to write and what you especially geek out over. Don’t feel a need to conform to the way everyone else around is because the works that really stand out are the ones that come from authenticity and allowing yourself to be yourself.