A Curse for the Homesick

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Magical Realism, Adult, Audiobook, Adult Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2025

About the author

Laura Brooke Robson is the author of Love Is an Algorithm and A Curse for the Homesick. She lives in New York.

Reviews

[Yun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know how it was possible to keep missing them when they were right here.

4.5 ⭐ A striking, poignant tale about loving and longing, A Curse for the Homesick didn't just sweep me away. It left me aching for a place I've never been and people I've never met.

Tess has lived in Stenland all her life. When she was twelve during skeld season, her mom accidentally killed Soren's parents by turning them to stone. For that and many other reasons, Tess wants to leave Stenland and never come back, so she knows falling in love with Soren is not in her cards. But try as they might, they are inexplicably drawn to each other. Soon they must decide what they are willing to risk to be together and what they are willing to give up to stay away.

From the first page, this lyrical tale drew me in. There was a unique quality to the writing that made it both deeply moving and eminently readable. To turn the pages of this book is to step into another world, one almost like ours but with some slight differences. And those differences underpin the crux of this emotive tale.

Usually with coming of age or love stories, the young protagonists always manage to annoy me at one point or another—if not whole way through—with their immaturity and endless drama, but not so here. I could relate as much to Tess's certainty that she couldn't stay as to Soren's belief that he cannot leave his homeland. Their anguish felt genuine and poignant, ringing true on all fronts.

I have to give props to the way magical realism is handled in here. We never get stuck in overly convoluted explanations, never mired in the weeds of the how's and the why's. The magical realism is simply the tool to explore whether it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, and it does so to perfection.

The setting and the characters in here are all so vivid, it was hard to remember at times that this place and these characters aren't actually real. I found myself mulling over Stenland and its skeld curse, wondering if I could pinpoint the exact location on a map if I were to look it up.

About the lyrical writing, I feel like I have to say something so potential readers don't get scared away. Because let's be honest, to call a narrative lyrical can be a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because who doesn't love beautiful writing? But it also brings to mind slow moving and excessively descriptive prose, there to exhaust even the most enthusiastic of readers. Thankfully, there's no such fears here. There is a sharpness to the writing and a wittiness to the dialogue that infuses every page with a sparkle and urgency, and we never lose the momentum of a well-paced story.

I can't remember the last time a book managed to achieve so much—beautiful writing, witty banter, a compelling plot, characters with so much depth and emotions—all in one narrative. And it does so with a poignancy so visceral, it's guaranteed to stay with you long after the story is done.

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[Meg Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A Curse for the Homesick" reminds me of "Never Let Me Go." What I loved about both books is the allegorical element, the author using a sci-fi or fantasy plot element to explore the human condition. In "Never Let Me Go," Isiguro uses sacrificial human clones solely so he could write about friendship in the face of mortality, while Robson uses the skeld curse to write about how love of all kinds (for parents, for lovers, for friends, for the home we can't really leave no matter how many miles we run) can be an inescapable curse.

I was just dazzled by this book. Beautiful, lyrical writing. The allegorical element of the curse was so perfectly done and believable. "A Curse for the Homesick" is a must-read for anyone who understands that love is the deepest, darkest form of magic.

[Laura Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had the right quantity of sheep

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre.

Tess comes from Stenland, a small Iceland-like island nation home to a terrible curse: every now and then, three women randomly wake up with marks on their foreheads that signify they've been turned into Skelds. After three months, the marks disappear, and the women can rejoin normal life. But during those three months, if a Skeld makes eye contact with another person, that person will be turned to stone.

So basically, Stenland sucks and no one in their right mind would ever stay in such a nightmarish place. A Curse for the Homesick spends the entire book trying to convince the reader that there is a reason to live in Stenland. This mission is a failure, because again: Stenland sucks and no one in their right mind would ever stay.

Instead, Tess and her fated one true love Soren spend the book pawing at each other or studiously ignoring each other while they work their way through a parade of bad boy/girlfriends until they inevitably (spoilers?) end up together. Because the lust is too strong.

I will not remember anything about this book in three months.

[Lindsey (Bagel) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh. My. Goodness. MY MAGICAL REALISM LOVING HEART!!

A Curse for the Homesick is like the love-child of Normal People by Sally Rooney and the magical
realism styles of Adrienne Young.

Now, I’m a sucker for magical realism and this was the perfect blend of mystery, romance, and magic!

The writing whisked me away to live life with Tess and Soren!! I could smell the sea. I could feel the breeze. I found myself checking my forehead to see if I was the next chosen Skeld for the season. Gosh it was just so UNIQUE!

I LOVED Tess and her friends! Their trio was the perfect blend of feistiness, love, and loyalty! Soren and Tess…ADORABLE!! I wanted more of them!! Their relationship felt SO REAL! Two people wanting two different things but always finding their way back to eachother…GOSH!!

This book made me homesick for what could have been and what can be. I related heavily to Tess as she went through life trying to figure out where she belongs. I feel like I’m constantly looking for the next thing, eager to leave my old life behind, so it was very refreshing to have a main character I could relate to.

Although I enjoyed the story and characters, there were some parts that felt like they were dragging on which is why I didn’t rate it a full five stars!! Also, Tess is a hard character to root for. She’s confused and insecure and unsure of what the next best thing is. So she frustrated me…maybe because I do see myself in her…oh well, I STILL LOVED IT!!

This was such a unique read and I recommend to anyone who wants a story that includes…

🌊Magical Realism
🌊Female friendships
🌊”It was always you” kind of love
🌊Scotland inspired world
🌊Finding where you belong
🌊An island wide curse

Triggers: explicit language, abortion, death, unsettling dreams, fade to black sexual content.

[sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update (10/22/2025):
I read this book four months ago and I still think about it almost everyday, so I am bumping it up to five stars.

I don't think I have ever read anything like this and I don't know if anything will hit me the same way again. This is going to be one of those books that will stay with me forever. The only reason I gave it four stars is because I wanted more from the ending. But wow

[Bethany Gorski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely breathtaking work of art

Wow, this was INCREDIBLE. It's a magical realism story, but all in a very normal way, so it doesn't feel all wishy-washy. This book took a curse on a remote Scottish island and used it as a metaphor for friendship, love, self-love, and everything in between.

The writing was so incredibly beautiful, and I wept deeply at multiple points!!

[jzpeng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for work but OH MY GOD this was fantastic!! Lowkey more romance than fantasy but just lovely. Like Emily Henry or Maggie Stiefvater.

[rachel x]

"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."

ooooooh

[Colleen Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a read to start the year! I stumbled across this book on a list of underrated books and I couldn't agree more with that assessment - this novel needs to be what book clubs are discussing, the book women are passing to their friends. I know I'm going to recommend it to library patrons. It's that good.

Despite it's not-quite-right title, A Curse for the Homesick is a gorgeously written , near-perfect novel that touches on the places you come from, the people you love and how much loyalty you owe each. The aching in this book is exquisite; the pain of generations passed is real.

Tess is one of the best female characters I've read in recent memory - I loved her robotic nature and her guarded heart. Soren, while being dreamy in all his sheep-cloaked flannel, couldn't hold a candle to Tess's rich inner world and her (sometimes) awful, understandable choices.

My favorite thing about this book, however was the way the curse was treated; with a shrug, and so I was immediately pulled in without a second of doubt. The reality of living with the curse was executed so believably that it reminded me of another book that pulled this off - Shark Heart. I love worlds that are so familiar to our own with just one little twist that changes everything.

I found Robson's excellent narrative abilities inspiring, and having just visited Scotland recently, I could see so well the barren, green landscape, the land of bleakness and raw beauty. Even her descriptions of the bright brown of California's glare conjured just the right tone. Stenland is her own character, carved of bluffs and cold seas and unflinching cruelty.

While I needed the climax of the book - involving the curse and a chain of events that sets off a tragedy - to be a little more clear, this was a five star read from page one and I'll be recommending it to anyone who wants a love story that hurts a little, an epic of two people drenched in history, held prisoner by lore and stone hearts.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still thinking of this book weeks after I set it down. I want to spend more time with these characters!!!

[Jennifer Sakash · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+ stars. Rather a somber, dark feel. It took some time at the beginning to get centered into the location and story. There's a lot going on here, covering themes of love/friendship/family, place/home/country, fantasy with a curse and elements of horror. Some inconsistencies were a little distracting and the pace felt a bit slow at times.

[Melissa]

I don't know if this book was actually really good, or just a 'right place, right time' kind of book to me, but I enjoyed it. Tess spoke to my immigrant heart- leaving a place that wasn't good to you and yet feeling like you'll never quite fit anywhere else? O yeah, I get that.
I do think the book really is good too though. The characters will break your heart. I do wish a certain pair had gotten their comeuppance though

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for an eARC of this book!

This is my new favorite book. I don't know how to put into words how it made me feel so seen. (Maybe there's a word in Stennish for it?) I feel like I understand the main characters better than most other characters I read about. This concept is so unique and has so many layers to it. While it's a cool idea—the skelds—it also makes me reflect on what it represents. And what it represents in my own life.

As someone who doesn't have a great relationship with their hometown and yet is seemingly forced to go back to life in high school again and again after leaving, this narrative put into words what I know to be true in my own life. I think there is a longing within most people to always search for something more but also to search for where we feel at home, and perhaps those things aren't mutually exclusive or perhaps they are. But no one can really know the answers because there are no set answers in life. Sometimes things just exist and sometimes things just happen. This story felt so real and relatable and poignant.

Beyond how it made me feel, the characterization was incredibly strong; each character was their own person. I loved the relationship so much I hated every plot point (in a good way). I treasured the complicated nature of female friendships. It is something I have been searching to find in a book for SO LONG, and this really just hit the nail on the head. The prose was simply beautiful. I ate it up. I cannot wait to get a physical copy of this book to annotate out of. (I don't annotate books. I just have so many thoughts.)

It's not often I love NetGalley books as much as this. It's not often I love any books as much as this. I have an incredibly fierce hope that this will become a big novel when it is released. (And I think it will.)

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written book about friendship, love, the sometime painful journey of self discovery and self acceptance. This book cracked my heart open more than once. It’s the kind of book you’ll race to finish and regret doing it because you’ll miss it.

[Shaila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Oh my gosh. What an incredible story with the biggest emotional punch. Top ten.

Book review: A Curse for The Homesick by Laura Brooke Robson
Format: 🎧

Let me tell you about a hidden gem. A book that rocked my word, absorbed me fully, had me sobbing into my breakfast. A love story for the ages, a deeply moving book about regret and homesickness and finding home. Here’s the jacket copy that puts it better than I could:
“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.”

Laura Robson uses magical realism in this contemporary story as a tool not a crutch to explore themes of female friendship, a love story that defies the odds, the desire to leave versus the pull of home, and the idea of women as weapons. The writing has both lyrical, atmospheric prose, but also sharp dialogue. It feels ancient and completely modern at the same time. I don’t remember who shared this book, but I’m so glad. It was anguished, haunting, and profoundly beautiful.

The narrator, Ruth Urquhart, does an amazing job of conveying emotion in an accent that felt like a mixing of Scottish and Norwegian, which was perfect for a book set on a fictional island north of Shetland.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

[Mirinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Curse for the Homesick totally pulled me in. It’s a heartfelt story about love, loss, and wanting to escape the place you’re from, even when love makes that complicated.

Tess grew up in Stenland, where her mom accidentally turned Soren’s parents to stone. So yeah, falling for him was never part of the plan. But of course, they can’t stay away from each other, and things get emotional fast.

The writing is super beautiful but still really easy to read, not slow or overly flowery. The magical stuff is just enough to make the story feel special without being confusing. And the characters? So real. I actually cared what happened to them, which doesn’t always happen.

It’s one of those books that sticks with you after you finish. Just really well done all around.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Bookish Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a small Scandinavian island country that may or may not have existed, there is a curse that visits the women. Seemingly random, a woman will wake up with the skeld marks, 3 black marks. She must cover her eyes and go to a building that has been built for this. Keepers must be selected. She must stay there for 3 months, until the marks have disappeared. If she does look at someone while she has the marks,they will die by being turned to stone.

Other than that? Everything is completely normal. This poignant novel has characters and places that will carve themselves into your heart before you’re done. 4.5 stars rounded up.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up so many times, read the blurb and thought it wasn’t for me, but finally one day it clicked and I decided to try it. I am so very glad I did. This was a gorgeously written, emotional story with such lovely characters. A truly beautiful story in such an atmospheric setting. The way she constructs sentences is a thing of beauty. It’s a supernatural curse set in a modern world with a lovely cast and so many lyrical words and their heartfelt meanings. I loved everything about this story.

[Kalyani · Rating 3 out of 5]

normal people if there was magical realism

[Leila Amiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is well written with great character development. The story itself is a bit boring with a tiny bit of magic.

[Kat Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

so, so good. all of the characters felt so real and so lovable, and i loved all of their witty banter and little mannerisms. this book made my heart ache in the best way.

[DH · Rating 3 out of 5]

tortured hetero romance but with turning people to stone on accident!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5. Releases 2/18/25.

The Vibes:

—light fantasy

—remote islands

—the "childhood sweethearts to longing pipeline"

The Basics:

Tess returns to her childhood home of Stenland, where during "skeld season", random women wake up with three black lines on their foreheads, which means they can (and will, if unchecked) unwittingly turn people to stone. Waiting for her is Soren, her lost love (whose parents Tess's mother turned to stone). Tess always wanted to leave—Soren always wanted to stay. But what if staying means risking his life?

The Review:

What a unique, beautifully written, melancholic book. It's definitely romantic, though I don't know if I would call it a romance so much as I'd call it fantasy-driven women's fiction with a strong romantic plot. Tess and Soren's relationship is the backbone of the book, and it is a gorgeously compelling relationship. I mean, you kind of have to love a book wherein the heroine's mom killed the hero's parents (even if she didn't intend to).

That gives way to a relationship that neither Soren nor Tess can leave behind, even though it's overshadowed by this feeling of inexorable doom.
But that's not all! There's a big sense of like, "What is home", "Am I my mother's sins", and the sense of women being ostracized and made into the proverbial boogeyman because women are strange and Mysterious. Tess's relationships with her best friends is a big part of the story, and I loved how delightfully complex those bonds were. Friendships are not always straightforward!

I loved the mythology here—magic involving the sea (I mean, sort of) is difficult for me to resist, and it does underline how, again, stunningly Robson writes. This is some truly wonderful prose. There is a natural reality with this type of lyricism that you often lose some of the emotional proximity to the characters.

A wistful—yet hopeful—novel with a unique voice and setting, I would definitely recommend A Curse for the Homesick to people who want their women's fiction different from the norm... with a heavy dose of romance.

Thanks to MIRA and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Kacie Endicott · Rating 5 out of 5]

all around stunner of a book. it’s what made me feel awe today!

[Josephine Sorrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Curse For the Homesick has a dark and gloomy vibe from the outset. Laura Brook Robinson tells the story of a young woman from Stenland, a fictional island in the arctic circle. There is a curse in Stenland where random women wake up with three black lines on their foreheads, which means they can (and will, if unchecked) unwittingly turn people to stone.

Tess has returned to her home of Stenland, to attend her childhood friend’s wedding. Waiting for her is Soren, her lost love (whose parents Tess's mother turned to stone). Tess confronts the weight of this curse early in life as her mother killed her schoolmate Soren’s parents during her time as a skeld. They shouldn’t fall in love but that’s exactly what they do.

This story is a romance, and a fantasy novel all wrapped into one. The book was a slow start for me and I never was fully invested.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A CURSE FOR THE HOMESICK, by Laura Brooke Robson, puts a speculative twist on contemporary fiction. I chose this book because I’m drawn to stories where adults return to their hometowns after a long absence. In this novel, Tess reluctantly returns to Stenland for the wedding of one of her childhood friends. She has always feared Skeld Season, an unpredictable phenomenon that turns three women into skelds for three months. While a skeld, these women turn anyone to stone who meets their eyes.

I loved the concept of this story - how neighbors and loved ones are put at risk and it’s simply a way of life for the community. It’s not unusual to know someone who was a skeld or someone who was killed by one.

Within this framework, A CURSE FOR THE HOMESICK is a story about friendship, community, forgiveness, and first love. It will especially resonate for those who still feel tied to their birthplace, despite moving far away.

I thought this story worked really well as an audiobook. The narrator, Ruth Urquhart, effectively drew me in and kept me interested in both the plot and the characters.

[Anna Mikulec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to The Hive for an ARC

This was such a good melancholic story exploring the risks we'll take for the people and places we love. The romance was amazing. Impeccable yearning with a little bit of miscommunication, which can be annoying at points, BUT I feel like it's done so naturally that it actually feels realistic.

[Drew Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute delight to read! Laura’s writing continues to have some of the most stunning prose I’ve ever read. A fantastic read all around. To top it off I fully agree with the author’s own review of her book “This book had the right quantity of sheep.”