-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Novel
by Laura Brooke Robson
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.
"[D]arkly enchanting...The author infuses their coming-of-age with a fairy tale quality and makes the bonds between them feel believable and robust. This is sure to win fans." —Publishers Weekly
"An enthralling read that lingers like a half-forgotten memory." —Booklist
"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
This information about A Curse for the Homesick was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Laura Brooke Robson grew up in Oregon and studied English and Creative Writing at Stanford. She is also the author of the young adult novels Girls at the Edge of the World and The Sea Knows My Name. Laura lives in New York.
If you liked A Curse for the Homesick, try these:
by Allegra Goodman
Published 2025
A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this breathtaking saga, an epic story of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.
by Philip Gray
Published 2022
Three months after the end of the Great War, a young woman sets out across the wastelands of the Western Front to learn the fate of the man she loved.
by Jane Johnson
Published 2021
A broken family, a house of secrets - an entrancing tale of love and courage set during the Second World War.
More Anagrams
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
