
Staff Pick
Sunburn
by Chloe Michelle Howarth
AUCK IN STOCK
WGTN ON ITS WAY
Pages:
288
Published:
1 Sept 2023
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Oldcastle Books, Limited
Imprint
Verve Books
ISBN:
9780857308412
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. Neither will be easy, but only one will offer her happiness.
$28.00
This book feels like summer- lush, sticky, suffocating in the best way possible. I loved the complexity of feeling in the main character, Lucy, and her narration -even though I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. If you're for an uncomplicatedly happy sapphic coming-of-age, this is not it, but well worth reading for its intimacy and eloquence. Read if "Good Luck Babe" is your favourite song.



