Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth

Sunburn

Shortlisted for the 2024 Book of the Year: Discover Award by the British Book Awards

Chloe Michelle Howarth

Oldcastle Books · Print & ebook · September 19, 2023

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Who it’s for
A clean, character-led read with literary polish and easy emotional pull.
Genres
Lesbian Romance, Coming-of-Age
Published
Oldcastle Books, September 19, 2023

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For younger readers: Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Her Name in the Sky, The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

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About this book

** Shortlisted for the 2024 Book of the Year: Discover Award by the British Book Awards ** ** Shortlisted for the 2023 Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction ** ** An Evening Standard 'One to Watch in 2023 ** ** An Independent 'Best Romantic Summer Reads' ** It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place.

Continue reading

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. Neither will be easy, but only one will offer her happiness.

Quiet Spark

A clean, character-led read with literary polish and easy emotional pull.

Come here for

  • contemporary Irish setting
  • lesbian romance, YA edge

Expect

  • modern fiction with a book-clubby angle
  • list-driven discovery, then staying for the voice

Where it sits

Coming-of-Age90%
Lesbian Romance58%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Lesbian Romance
  • Coming-of-Age
  • Contemporary Irish Fiction
Authors
Chloe Michelle Howarth
Publisher
Oldcastle Books
Published
September 19, 2023
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Lesbian Romance