Homebound 💾💜

By Portia Elan.

Homebound is a rare and beautiful book, one that stretches across centuries yet remains grounded in the intimate moments that make us human.

Portia Elan has created something ambitious and deeply imaginative. A story that moves from nostalgic 1980s Cincinnati to the near future, then hundreds of years beyond, and finally to a distant era that feels almost medieval in its simplicity and wonder. Despite this vast scope, the book never loses its emotional centre.

At the heart of everything is Becks. It is 1983 and she is desperate to leave Cincinnati behind. Before she goes, she works through the one thing her uncle, the person who understood her best, has left her.

A half finished computer game that she is determined to complete. What she cannot know is that the game she is coding will outlive her by centuries. It will become the thread that binds together the lives of a scientist, an astronaut and a sea captain stranded on a treacherous voyage. It will also introduce them to a robot with a remarkable purpose. To gather these lives, scattered across time and space, and bring them home.

The beauty of Homebound is how it captures so many genres at once and makes them feel seamless. Part coming of age, part coming out story. Part sea adventure. Part space odyssey. Part literary reflection on loss, time and the longing for connection. It is both futuristic and timeless, vast and profoundly personal.

The character writing is one of the book’s greatest strengths. Despite the sweeping timeline and the four main points of view, each character feels vivid and distinct. Their inner worlds are rich, their emotional arcs satisfying, and their stories gradually intertwine in ways that feel both inevitable and moving.

The book asks powerful questions about creativity, legacy, the fragility of civilisation and what remains when the world we know disappears. When home is gone and the future uncertain, what keeps us going. What do we choose to live for.

There are moments when the technical details, whether coding or discussions around AI, may sail past readers who are less familiar with those subjects. Yet this never becomes a barrier to enjoying the story.

The emotional clarity and thematic depth keep the book accessible, even when the science becomes complex. Homebound is ideal for readers who enjoy thoughtful science fiction rooted in human connection.

Fans of Kazuo Ishiguro’s speculative books will find much to love here, as will anyone drawn to stories about found family, adventure or the bittersweet nostalgia of the 1980s. It is a book that looks to the future while holding tightly to the past, examining how our choices ripple far beyond our lifetimes.

Inventive, tender and quietly epic, Homebound is a story that reminds us that home is not always a place.

Sometimes it is the people we find, the love we carry and the connections we forge in the strangest of circumstances.

Thank you to the team at Vintage Books for sending such a beautiful copy of the book out! The book is out now and available to purchase.

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