A NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • In a dazzling ode to human inventiveness and desire for meaning, four lives are entangled across time by one unfinished story, saved to a floppy disk in the 1980s and destined to ripple across the centuries.
‘A joy...and a hauntingly beautiful exploration of what makes us human. It kept me up all night!’ —MADELINE MILLER, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Song of Achilles
"A big, bold, ecstatic world—full of heart and wonder.’ —RUTH OZEKI, New York Times bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being
1983. Becks is nineteen, blasting her Walkman, and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle, and the only person who understood her, is dead. Luckily, he left her a half-finished video game to complete—one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness.
2078. Dr. Portman is working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, wrestling with her responsibility to Earth's precarious future. But increasingly, it seems the results of her work may transcend everything she believed to be possible...
2586. After decades of life on the sea, Yesiko knows a scavenger's work is rife with moral compromise. Yet when a long-lost piece of technology walks aboard her ship, she is set on a path toward a sacrifice even she may be unwilling to make.
Linking these women across the centuries is a chain reaction of love, longing, and creativity that reveals our deep interconnectedness. Clear-eyed and hopeful, Homebound imagines how future generations will find meaning in the things we leave behind.
Genre: Literary Fiction
‘A joy...and a hauntingly beautiful exploration of what makes us human. It kept me up all night!’ —MADELINE MILLER, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Song of Achilles
"A big, bold, ecstatic world—full of heart and wonder.’ —RUTH OZEKI, New York Times bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being
1983. Becks is nineteen, blasting her Walkman, and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle, and the only person who understood her, is dead. Luckily, he left her a half-finished video game to complete—one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness.
2078. Dr. Portman is working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, wrestling with her responsibility to Earth's precarious future. But increasingly, it seems the results of her work may transcend everything she believed to be possible...
2586. After decades of life on the sea, Yesiko knows a scavenger's work is rife with moral compromise. Yet when a long-lost piece of technology walks aboard her ship, she is set on a path toward a sacrifice even she may be unwilling to make.
Linking these women across the centuries is a chain reaction of love, longing, and creativity that reveals our deep interconnectedness. Clear-eyed and hopeful, Homebound imagines how future generations will find meaning in the things we leave behind.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"A sparkling novel, a work of joyous and serious invention that moves fluidly between forms - text-based computer game, coming-of-age story, sea adventure - that is also profoundly attentive to the concept of home as something portable, created by family (born and chosen), storytelling and solidarity." - Kaliane Bradley
"Homebound's multiple narratives gloriously span centuries into the future to chart the voyages people take to find connection and community. Portia Elan's ingenious novel is a puzzle-story, a nostalgic ode to 80s video games and punk rock, and a speculative look into the ways technology has reshaped longing. You need to read it!" - Kevin Chong
"A fascinatingly plausible and atmospheric story of a future shaped by tech and love intertwined." - Emma Donoghue
"What a pleasure it was to read this book. Homebound's radiant heart and the sure-footed clarity of Elan's prose seduced me from the first page. It's the kind of scope and pleasure that, forgive me for using the shorthand of comparison,reminds me of the novels of Emily St. John Mandel and Daniel Mason." - Kelly Link
"Homebound is a joy - at once a gripping mystery that confidently spans centuries, and a hauntingly beautiful exploration of what makes us human. Inventive and gritty, powerful and clear-eyed, it kept me up all night!" - Madeline Miller
"Homebound is the most original and arresting novel I've read in a very long time. Elan has created a century-spanning epic that's also an utterly intimate story of love, loss, and found family. What a joy; what a marvel." - Anna North
"Homebound is a big, bold, ecstatic world - full of heart and wonder - where stories weave through time to connect us, and our faith in each other makes us human." - Ruth Ozeki
"Inventive and full of feeling. New insight into queerness and computer games unlocked." - Maggie Thrash
"A novel to get lost in, Homebound is deeply felt, deftly crafted and beautifully written. A story of friendship and family, of hope and invention and love. An inspiring debut." - Charles Yu
"Homebound's multiple narratives gloriously span centuries into the future to chart the voyages people take to find connection and community. Portia Elan's ingenious novel is a puzzle-story, a nostalgic ode to 80s video games and punk rock, and a speculative look into the ways technology has reshaped longing. You need to read it!" - Kevin Chong
"A fascinatingly plausible and atmospheric story of a future shaped by tech and love intertwined." - Emma Donoghue
"What a pleasure it was to read this book. Homebound's radiant heart and the sure-footed clarity of Elan's prose seduced me from the first page. It's the kind of scope and pleasure that, forgive me for using the shorthand of comparison,reminds me of the novels of Emily St. John Mandel and Daniel Mason." - Kelly Link
"Homebound is a joy - at once a gripping mystery that confidently spans centuries, and a hauntingly beautiful exploration of what makes us human. Inventive and gritty, powerful and clear-eyed, it kept me up all night!" - Madeline Miller
"Homebound is the most original and arresting novel I've read in a very long time. Elan has created a century-spanning epic that's also an utterly intimate story of love, loss, and found family. What a joy; what a marvel." - Anna North
"Homebound is a big, bold, ecstatic world - full of heart and wonder - where stories weave through time to connect us, and our faith in each other makes us human." - Ruth Ozeki
"Inventive and full of feeling. New insight into queerness and computer games unlocked." - Maggie Thrash
"A novel to get lost in, Homebound is deeply felt, deftly crafted and beautifully written. A story of friendship and family, of hope and invention and love. An inspiring debut." - Charles Yu
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