A Curse for the Homesick - by Laura Brooke Robson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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."--

Book Synopsis

"A lyrical, melancholy, and deeply moving story about the people we love and the places we long for. Aching and poignant."
--Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

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?

Laura Robson has crafted a fascinating story about the choices we make, the responsibilities we carry, and the ambiguities of regret.

Review Quotes

"Darkly enchanting."
--Publishers Weekly

"Stunning, heartbreaking, a gorgeous lyrical page-turner, A Curse for the Homesick is a must-read for anyone who understands that love is the deepest, darkest form of magic."
--Meg Shaffer, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Story

"Star-crossed lovers, a remote island, a deadly curse... A Curse for the Homesick is an emotionally-charged rollercoaster that is as sexy as it is haunting. You won't want to put it down, but you might have to once in a while just to catch your breath."
--Ruth Emmie Lang, author of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance

"A lyrical, melancholy, and deeply moving story about the people we love and the places we long for, even when we know we shouldn't. Aching and poignant."
--Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

"An enthralling read that lingers like a half-forgotten memory."
--Booklist

"A thoroughly modern love story set against a backdrop of ancient mythology, it evokes perfectly that feeling of, at long last, finding the only place in this world that is home. Deeply atmospheric, profound, and beautiful."
--James Goodhand, author of The Day Tripper

"With her signature atmospheric prose and incisive eye for detail, Robson will make you yearn for a place you've never been. A bittersweet, hopeful tale about what it means to belong to a place--and how love is a risk worth taking."
--Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic

"This grounded, moving novel is a perfect rainy day read and an ode to what it is to be human--to desire and gain, to desire and lose, to find again."
--Bookpage, starred review