Review By: Anonymous
Published: MIRA, 2025
Genre(s): Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
Audience: Grades 11–12, Adult
Content Warnings: Death, Curse
Goodreads Link: A Curse for the Homesick
Summary:
In a land where one glance could kill, Tess Erikson must decide between staying with the man she loves or leaving the island to potentially save his life. On the island of Stenland, women marked as “skelds” during the three-month skeld season cause anyone who looks at them to turn to stone, forcing isolation and fear. Tess navigates love, guilt, and the weight of responsibility while facing the consequences of her choices.
Review:
A Curse for the Homesick takes place on the fictional island of Stenland. On this island, there is a dangerous and unpredictable curse that can happen to women. They can wake up in the morning with three black lines on their forehead, marking them as a “skeld.” This begins their three-month-long “skeld” season, during which anyone who looks at a skeld immediately turns to stone. The skelds must hide themselves, creating fear and isolation.
Tess Erikson, the main character, struggles with her mother’s accidental killing of the parents of the boy she loves, Soren Fell. Tess and Soren share strong feelings for each other, but Tess carries guilt and feels trapped by the curse and the past. Soren remains loyal to his homeland and determined to stay on the island. Their story explores themes of love, responsibility, guilt, and the consequences of choices.
Classroom activities could include creating stories with mythical curses, debating moral dilemmas, illustrating scenes from the book, or writing an extended final chapter. Robson crafts a narrative rich in tension, emotion, and ethical complexity that invites readers to reflect on the balance between love and responsibility.
