Richly evocative of early 1990s small-town Ireland, Howarth's fine debut centres on the forbidden relationship between Lucy and Susannah and the double life both are forced to lead as the prejudices of the time begin to oppress them.
Shortlisted for the Nero Debut Fiction Award 2023
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Discover Book of the Year 2024
It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she's always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn't appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend.
Lucy begins to make sense of herself during a long hot summer, when a spark with her school friend Susannah escalates to an all-consuming infatuation, and, very quickly, to a desperate and devastating love.
Fearful of rejection from her small and conservative community, Lucy begins living a double life, hiding the most honest parts of herself in stolen moments with Susannah.
But with the end of school and the opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. But only one can offer her real happiness. Sunburn is an astute and tender portrayal of first love, adolescent anxiety and the realities of growing up in a small town where tradition holds people tightly in its grasp.
Publisher: Verve Books
ISBN: 9780857308412
Number of pages: 288
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
Intense and all-consuming - like the first love it describes - Sunburn transported me to the heart of summer and the heady days of late adolescence. I won't soon forget Chloe Michelle Howarth's addictive, lushly written debut - Laura Sims, author of Looker,
A deeply moving, heartfelt love story - Daily Mail
'A tender and heartfelt coming-of-age tale' - Heat
This is a compassionate take on the push and pull between what's expected and what is felt. - The Herald
A tender coming-of-age novel and a heartfelt sapphic love story - ELLE Canada
This book deserves to become a classic of LGBTQIA+ fiction. I feelthis is a story that will resonate with a lot of people which makes this book a must read.
It the story of Lucy who grows up in a small Irish town. In...
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I’ve never read a book that so accurately portrays my own experiences of growing up queer in a small village! Every line was like a sucker punch. Absolutely gorgeously written, I’ve been telling everyone I know to... More
It’s the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, teenage Lucy feels a sense of nonbelonging; sure, outwardly, she does what she thinks she should - having fierce good friendships, making the right noises... More
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