Can you imagine waking up with the power to turn people into stone? What about living on an island where all the women had the risk of turning into a skeld at random times? That’s the setting of Laura Brooke Robson’s new novel, A Curse for the Homesick.
A Curse for the Homesick follows Tess Eriksson through different stages in her life. From her childhood and adolescence growing up in Stenland to her college years in California, all the way to the present where she comes back to Stenland for her best friend’s wedding. Despite everything, the only two constants in her life are her desire to escape the island and her love for Soren, a boy back home.
The story jumps from year to year, sharing crucial moments between Tess and Soren. There’s love, angst, and everything in between. Here are three signs you’ll enjoy reading A Curse for the Homesick by Laura Brooke Robson!
Book Overview: A Curse For The Homesick
Content warnings: death, parent deaths, mention of murder
Summary: On Stenland, there comes a time known as skeld season: one day, any woman on the island can wake with three black lines on her forehead, the mark of a skeld. Skeld season comes around without warning, and while each window of time lasts only three months, anyone a skeld turns to stone is very much dead.
That’s how Tess’s mother killed Soren’s parents. Maybe for this reason alone, Tess and Soren should not have fallen in love. Since the time her mother was a skeld, Tess has wanted to leave Stenland, to run from the windswept island, from her family and friends. She is unwilling to bear the responsibility of one day killing anyone, let alone someone she loves.
Soren has been determined to stay, to live out his life in the place he knows as home, even if that life could be cut short during the latest skeld season. They cannot see eye to eye—and yet they cannot stay apart. She tries to come back for him. He tries to leave for her. But can your love for one person outweigh everything else combined? And how do you decide how much you’re willing to risk, if it might mean destroying someone else in the process?
You’ve Felt Homesick Before
One of the main conflicts in A Curse for the Homesick is Tess’s complicated relationship with her home. Stenland has always felt like a cage to her, especially after her mom became a skeld and killed Soren’s parents. She eventually makes it into Stanford, and even spends a quarter at Oxford. But after leaving her home and her loved ones, Tess never feels fulfilled or quite at home in the States or overseas. She feels homesick, but she knows it’ll only hurt her (and Soren) more to come home.
You Love Will-They-Won’t-They Romances
Tess and Soren’s on-again off-again relationship in A Curse for the Homesick is not for the weak! Neither of them like to speak their mind. They like to simmer in silence and wait for the other person to bring up the elephant in the room. But Tess and Soren care deeply for each other. It’s obvious everyone else around them. Their relationship at different ages varies greatly, from their high school romance to their months-long period in California together. Of course, as fate would have it, they find their way back to each other.
You Have Long-Distance Friendships
A Curse for the Homesick depicts the angst and reality of long-distance friendships and relationships really well. Tess and her two best friends, Kitty and Linnea, separate after high school. While Tess moves to California and Kitty to London, Linnea stays in Stenland. Tess and Kitty text and visit each other fairly often, filling the gaps in their lives as much as they can. And when they reunite for Linnea’s wedding, it feels like too much has changed. But a crisis quickly brings the three women back together and mends old wounds.
Laura Brooke Robson’s A Curse for the Homesick beautifully captures the whirlwind of young love, long-distance friendships, and the meaning of home. Reading truly felt like an escape.
A Curse for the Homesick by Laura Brooke Robson comes out February 18th, and you can preorder a copy of it right here!
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