Five interlocking lives. One beloved story. A dazzling adventure across centuries and continents in search of the things that hold us together.
COMING MAY 2026
It’s 1983 and Becks can’t wait to get the hell out of Cincinnati. She’s nineteen, blasting her Walkman, and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle, the only person who understood her, is dead. But she has work to do: he left her a half-finished game to complete—one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness.
Little does she know, what Becks is making will echo far into the future and shape the lives of a scientist, a sentient automaton, and a flinty sea captain in ways she cannot imagine. All are bound together by their search for connection—and by a futuristic traveler on a mysterious mission through space.
“A joy—at once a gripping mystery that confidently spans centuries, 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 Circe and Song of Achilles
“The most original and arresting novel I’ve read in a very long time…What a marvel.”
—Anna North, author of Outlawed and Bog Queen
Portia Elan studied history at Stanford University and earned an MFA from the University of Victoria before returning to California, where she has worked as a waitress, bookseller, teacher, and public librarian. She is a former Lambda Literary Fellow and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and an abundance of cats.
Homebound is her debut novel.
You can find:
- newsletter updates: make zines tell stories
- games by Portia on itch.io
- the occasional cat photo on Instagram
Literary Agent: Julie Barer, The Book Group (julie [at] thebookgroup.com)
Publicity (US): Kassandra Engel
(kassandra.engel [at] simonandschuster.com)
Publicity (UK): Klara Zak
(vintagepublicity [at] penguinrandomhouse.co.uk)
Portia Elan 