Sunburn
Author: Chloe Michelle Howarth
Published by: Verve Books
Pages: 285
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★★★
Published by: Verve Books
Pages: 285
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★★★
It’s the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, fifteen-year-old 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 opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. Only one can offer her real happiness.
It’s the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, fifteen-year-old 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 opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. Only one can offer her real happiness.
My thoughts:
Sunburn is a stellar debut. Set in rural Ireland in the early ‘90s, Sunburn is a queer coming-of-age story which follows Lucy, long assumed to be on the road to marriage and kids with her neighbour and best friend, Martin. Aged fifteen, she is one of a group of girls tightly bound by friendship, fraught with all the worries and pitfalls of adolescence. Lucy desperately wants to fit in, to ignore the troubling feelings she has for Susannah. Yet as she finds herself in the spotlight of Susannah’s attention, Lucy dares to hope that her feelings are requited.
And so, readers are taken on her journey of self-discovery: a passionate yet tender relationship with one of her best friends that comes alive in stolen moments. The girls are implicitly marred by shame, religious guilt, and the fear of being found out. Their love is written with such a palpable intensity which so accurately captures the feeling of falling for the first time, and it is such an engrossing read.
Lucy’s interdependent friendships evolve, stretch and strain as her relationship with Susannah explodes into passion, desire, and breathless recognising of true self. As they commit their feelings to each other in heart breaking letters, Lucy and Susannah's connection becomes more and more addictive and endearing.
But under the strict ways that are followed in this tiny village, Lucy's sexuality places her in a vulnerable position regarding her mother. I think one of the most integral relationships in the book is that between Lucy and her mother. Lucy is under the guise that one day the relationship between the two of them will wane, and she just wishes to hold on what love she can get from her mother for as long as possible. Their relationship with one another is beautifully wrought, full of experience, spite, anger, and challenging history.
As the story continues, the author allows the book to follow the characters a little later into their lives, after the sun-drenched summer of first love, giving a real sense of completeness, a proper although not easy, happy ending of sorts as Lucy chooses freedom and an authentic life.
Sunburn is a 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. Words can hardly describe the way I feel about this book, it is such a fantastic read. The writing is precise and cutting yet so tender, dealing with adolescent anxiety and following Lucy as she learns to come to terms with her identity.
Howarth’s debut novel is a beautiful coming of age slow burn love story written with all the intensity of first love, blended with the claustrophobia of small-town life. The writing is lyrical, tender, evocative and completely gripping. Add this to your summer reading list.
Overall reaction:
Sunburn is a stellar debut. Set in rural Ireland in the early ‘90s, Sunburn is a queer coming-of-age story which follows Lucy, long assumed to be on the road to marriage and kids with her neighbour and best friend, Martin. Aged fifteen, she is one of a group of girls tightly bound by friendship, fraught with all the worries and pitfalls of adolescence. Lucy desperately wants to fit in, to ignore the troubling feelings she has for Susannah. Yet as she finds herself in the spotlight of Susannah’s attention, Lucy dares to hope that her feelings are requited.
And so, readers are taken on her journey of self-discovery: a passionate yet tender relationship with one of her best friends that comes alive in stolen moments. The girls are implicitly marred by shame, religious guilt, and the fear of being found out. Their love is written with such a palpable intensity which so accurately captures the feeling of falling for the first time, and it is such an engrossing read.
Lucy’s interdependent friendships evolve, stretch and strain as her relationship with Susannah explodes into passion, desire, and breathless recognising of true self. As they commit their feelings to each other in heart breaking letters, Lucy and Susannah's connection becomes more and more addictive and endearing.
But under the strict ways that are followed in this tiny village, Lucy's sexuality places her in a vulnerable position regarding her mother. I think one of the most integral relationships in the book is that between Lucy and her mother. Lucy is under the guise that one day the relationship between the two of them will wane, and she just wishes to hold on what love she can get from her mother for as long as possible. Their relationship with one another is beautifully wrought, full of experience, spite, anger, and challenging history.
As the story continues, the author allows the book to follow the characters a little later into their lives, after the sun-drenched summer of first love, giving a real sense of completeness, a proper although not easy, happy ending of sorts as Lucy chooses freedom and an authentic life.
Sunburn is a 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. Words can hardly describe the way I feel about this book, it is such a fantastic read. The writing is precise and cutting yet so tender, dealing with adolescent anxiety and following Lucy as she learns to come to terms with her identity.
Howarth’s debut novel is a beautiful coming of age slow burn love story written with all the intensity of first love, blended with the claustrophobia of small-town life. The writing is lyrical, tender, evocative and completely gripping. Add this to your summer reading list.
Overall reaction: