Published by Charco Press, 2022, 219 pages.

“All of us are anything, everything, brimming with secrets. Above all we are the shelter we seek out in others and the safe havens we become for those we choose to love.”

Amy and Zoe are sisters. Amy is older by three years and is very protective of her little sister, Zoe. There doesn’t seem to be much parental supervision—Amy feels completely responsible for Zoe.

The first chapter sets the scene. The chapter heading reads “Even though she’s not supposed to, Amy looks forward to tornados”. Although Amy is still a child, she knows exactly what to do where the sirens go off to warn of a tornado. She is in charge of the flashlight—Zoe is too young to be trusted with it. Zoe is allowed only three toys to take down to the shelter (Amy’s rule). If Amy had her way, they would stay in the tornado shelter and not ever have to come back up again.

Clearly, their mother does not believe in shielding them from the nastier parts of life. She warns them about disasters, but they don’t really listen. “All they know is that there is always a disaster happening somewhere. … There is an AIDS epidemic, although neither Amy nor Zoe knows what AIDS is. They only know they are supposed to wash their hands.” The mother only takes baths—she won’t take a shower, she tells them, because she saw a film in which a woman gets stabbed in the shower.

Amy is prepared for any disaster—being prepared means knowing how to keep her sister safe. If the car was to go off a bridge, she would unbuckle Zoe’s seatbelt and then unbuckle her own while rolling down the car window. Then the sisters could swim up. (The parents do not feature in this rescue plan.)

One day, their world turns upside down. Zoe starts to have fits and is taken to the hospital. Amy feels that her sister is taken over by a ghost. Riding in an ambulance—something the sisters wanted to do because they thought it would be fun to go fast—is scary now because, although Zoe is there physically, Amy can’t reach her.

Zoe does get well and comes home eventually, and life goes on much the same, except that Zoe has to be careful. She starts to become allergic to things like grape juice, and needs even more looking after.

The two sisters are very different. Amy is organized and driven—she excels at anything she turns her hand to, while Zoe is a free spirit with a tendency to be overdramatic. They both fall in love with the same boy, Sasha, who is teaching Amy Russian. Both girls start their periods at the same time, in spite of the difference in age.

Eventually, Amy leaves home to go to college, and Amy and Zoe have to find their way through life without each other’s constant company.

The book follows the relationship between the two sisters from Amy’s point of view: you get a strong sense of her love, protectiveness, and the fear of losing Zoe. But there is also a bit of resentment towards her younger sister. When they both get their periods within a day of each other, Amy is not happy. It feels like her sister has stolen the thing that made her different. “It is typical of Zoe to have to do things at the same time as Amy, in spite of their respective ages. Now she acts as though getting your period is worse than having your skull split open and your brain rearranged. Amy shudders to think what will be next.”

This is a beautifully portrayed relationship between siblings: the ups and downs, the quarrels and upsets, but always underneath it, the love. Jennifer Croft gets under the skin of Amy—the book is narrated in third person but in Amy’s matter-of-fact voice. The chapter headings introduce what is going to happen in the chapter. They reminded me of Victorian novels, but at the same time, feel completely original.

This is also a coming-of-age story, which takes Amy from childhood to adolescence up to the point when she is a young woman on the cusp of making her own life. There are landmark moments, not just Zoe’s illness, but the loss of a dear friend—and the first time that Amy keeps a secret from her sister.

I loved the part with the two sisters but found the bit with Amy on her own less interesting. I felt that the story was enriched when both sisters were there.

Homesick is drawn from Croft’s life and mixes memoir and fiction. Croft is an award-winning translator, and her love of language comes through.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started the book but I was hooked from the first chapter and could not put it down. It made me laugh and cry because it felt so real. Croft has got the nuances of close relationships, which are never just about one feeling but are as complex as the people involved. There is a fair amount of the story that is unspoken, that exists between the lines.

This is a book worth reading, especially if you have a sibling you are close to.