Our Homesick Songs

Emma Hooper author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:7th Mar '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Our Homesick Songs cover

An enchanting tale about a fading town and a boy who would do anything to save his family.

'Warm-hearted and winsomely imaginative' Sunday Times

The fish have been vanishing from the waters off Big Running, Newfoundland, and now the people are too . . .

Amidst abandoned houses and closed schools, ten-year-old Finn and his sister Cora while away their nights counting the few remaining fishing boats on the coast. Meanwhile Finn's music teacher, Mrs Callaghan, shares stories about his family, the island's ancient melodies, and its myths of mermaids and magic snakes. Then it's Cora's turn to vanish. Realising that he could lose his family as well as his home, Finn sets out to rescue his sister and bring life back to the barren waters.

'A Wes Anderson-esque tale to fall for' Stylist

'This is a novel in love with music, magic and the idealism of childhood' The Times

A Wes Anderson-esque tale to fall for * Stylist *
The town is filled with magic, and so is Hooper's writing * New York Times *
Warm-hearted and winsomely imaginative * Sunday Times *
Our Homesick Songs tells a relevant, strong story about the impact of environmental change on rural communitiesand the way the young generation can feel responsiblefor and angryat what their forebears have done [...] This is a novel in love with music, magic and the idealism ofchildhood * The Times *
Emma Hooper has used her craft and knowledge to weave together a plot mindful of narrative's oral and lyrical beginnings, integrating folk tale and song into her work . . . an almost musical rhythmand pulse not often found in fiction writing * Literary Review *
The prose flows like the wavesitrecounts: back and forth seamlessly . . . it is elegant and musical * The List *
Hooper is fascinated by the emotional territory of migration and how individual lives are shaped by forces as powerful and inexorable as the sea * Daily Mail *
Emma Hooper has constructed such anauthentic sense of place from such a distant shore * Irish Times *
With stark prose, Hooper captures the desperation and difficulty of life on the edge of civilization. Heartbreaking and empathetic, Hooper's fine novel is a haunting evocation of changing times and the power of place * Publishers Weekly *
Lovely and lyrical. A story about storytellers told with a beguiling simplicity. Hooper's work brims with mermaids and music and memory * Toronto Star *
Magnificently arresting, fresh, gripping. A bright new star of literature ... will leave you thinking on a new level about the connections between men, women and places * The Times on 'Etta and Otto and Russell and James' *
Wonderful! Incredibly moving, beautifully written and luminous with wisdom. A book that restores one's faithin life even as it deepens its mystery * Chris Cleave *
A sweet, disarming story of lasting love * The New York Times on 'Etta and Otto and Russell and James' *
Beautiful, eccentric, romantic, hugely satisfying * Big Issue on 'Etta and Otto and Russell and James' *

ISBN: 9780241977934

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 20mm

Weight: 234g

336 pages