A Curse for the Homesick
A Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“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.
Don't miss Laura Brooke Robson's next captivating novel, LOVE IS AN ALGORITHM, where a young couple's budding relationship becomes the ultimate modern experiment on artificial intelligence's impact on genuine connection and how to fall and stay in love in the digital age...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Robson's darkly enchanting debut centers on a small Northern European country, Stenland, whose female citizens live under threat of a curse. It's impossible to predict when a new Skeld season will begin or which women will be affected, but those who are marked by the curse will spend three months unable to look others in the eye without turning them to stone. Kitty Sjöberg, Linnea Sundstrom, and Tess Eriksson grow up with the rules to mitigate potential harm drilled into their heads, including always waking up alone and checking the mirror for the marks before leaving the house. One morning, Tess's mother fails to check the mirror, and, not realizing she's been marked, unwittingly turns two people to stone. Robson teases out the consequences of those tragic deaths as Tess and her friends find and lose love and try to run from the magic that's been nipping at their heels since they were born. 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.
