A Curse for the Homesick
On sale
11th September 2025
Price: £20
‘If you were eighty, and you’d spent your whole life not letting yourself love him, and he was eighty, and he’d never been turned to stone - how much would you regret it?’
The island of Stenland is cursed: women, chosen at random, awaken with three black slashes on their forehead. The first person they meet eyes with turns to stone.
This is how Tess Eriksson’s mother killed Soren Fell’s parents. It was an accident, but that has never made it any easier to forgive.
Since then, all Tess has wanted is to leave Stenland. All Soren has wanted is to stay.
The only thing they want more . . . is each other.
But how can you love one person more than everything else combined? And how do you take the risk on love, if it could mean destroying the person you hold most dear?
The island of Stenland is cursed: women, chosen at random, awaken with three black slashes on their forehead. The first person they meet eyes with turns to stone.
This is how Tess Eriksson’s mother killed Soren Fell’s parents. It was an accident, but that has never made it any easier to forgive.
Since then, all Tess has wanted is to leave Stenland. All Soren has wanted is to stay.
The only thing they want more . . . is each other.
But how can you love one person more than everything else combined? And how do you take the risk on love, if it could mean destroying the person you hold most dear?
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Reviews
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
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
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
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
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.
'Robson's simple, elegant tale is also a devoted character study and a love letter to her gorgeous fictional setting. [...] This grounded, moving novel is a perfect rainy day read and an ode to what it is to be human'
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
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
Robson's writing brings the island's fog-laden landscapes vividly to life, balancing a sense of doom with poetic melancholy. With the skeld curse as a backdrop, Robson deftly examines the emotional costs of family, love, and loyalty. Fans of literary fantasy and bittersweet romance will find this an enthralling read that lingers like a half-forgotten memory