NEED TO KNOW
Portia Elan’s debut novel, Homebound, will arrive next springThe science fiction novel has received early praise from Circe author Madeline Miller, who says the book kept her “up all night”PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Homebound below
Portia Elan’s ambitious upcoming book promises to be an adventure.
PEOPLE can exclusively share the cover of the author debut novel Homebound, due out next year from Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
The science fiction novel follows Becks, a teenager in 1980s Cincinnati who is mourning the death of her uncle. Before he died, her uncle left behind a half-finished game that Becks is determined to complete for him.
The cover of ‘Homebound’ by Portia Elan.
Scribner
But Becks soon comes to see that her uncle’s game has far-reaching impacts — namely, the future and the lives of four other people living within it. Soon, a scientist, an automated bot and a sea captain find their lives brought together by Becks, as she begins a space mission of her own.
Per a statement shared with PEOPLE, Elan wanted to write a novel that would serve as an “antidote to loneliness,” and which would remind readers of books that they may have loved growing up.
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“Homebound is for readers who have felt like an outsider and been angry about it, readers who have experienced the magic of found family, readers who believe in the power of story and readers who see human nature too clearly to imagine a future that is either all good or all bad,” the author said in the statement.
Portia Elan.
Clayton J. Mitchell
The novel has also received early praise from author Madeline Miller, known for novels like The Song of Achilles and Circe, who says the novel “kept me up all night.”
“[Homebound is] at once a gripping mystery that confidently spans centuries, and a hauntingly beautiful exploration of what makes us all human,” the author said.
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Elan is also a librarian and a former Lambda Literary Fellow. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her wife.
Homebound will be published on May 5, 2026 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.