“The symmetry should have tipped me off.”
After a violent incident at work, Tamsin goes looking for a fresh start in a remote cottage far away from her old life. Here she could make real friends, find a job she loves, become a whole new person, even.
But the solitary cottage is actually a semi-detached, with only a thin wall separating her from a total stranger. Her neighbour is an enigma. Dowdy one moment, vivacious the next, but always wearing an unnerving smile. Tamsin can’t shake the feeling that there’s something wrong with her, especially when she starts experiencing disturbances in her own home.
As the locals share strange stories about her house, and her barely contained paranoia spirals out of control, Tamsin begins to suspect that the past she was so desperate to escape might never let her go.
Tamsin has always felt less than. Unwelcome, unwanted, or just ignored. After an incident at work, she left her job, her home, and even her town without a word to anyone. Wanting a fresh start, she buys a cottage sight unseen, based solely on photos and a description on a website.
When she moves in, she discovers it is not as described. In fact, it is a duplex and another woman is living right on the other side of the wall. A strange woman who bangs around at all hours of the night but is rarely seen.
Homesick felt like a combination of folk horror and psychological study of a woman who felt acute rage, shame, and alienation at every slight by others, whether real or imagined. If she was indeed "homesick" it was for a time and place that never really existed for her.
Throw in some creepy rumors about the previous residents of the cottage and what may have become of them, along with the weird happenings Tamsin is experiencing in her not so happy home and you've got a recipe for a spooky good time.
4 out of 5 stars
My thanks to Rebellion Publishing Ltd for the e-ARC
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