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Sunburn

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Sunburn

By: Chloe Michelle Howarth
Narrated by: Toni O'Rourke
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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.

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.

An Evening Standard ‘One to Watch in 2023'

©2023 Chloe Michelle Howarth (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Romance Heartfelt Tear-jerking
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A beautifully written novel, brimming with poetic writing which perfectly encapsulates the gossip filled moments of teenage life. Clever use of religious language throughout the book to portray the difficulties Lucy faces in being gay.

The narration was great. I look forward to the authors next work!

Beautifully written and read

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Absolutely beautiful story, with heartfelt and rounded characters. The audiobook performance was incredible too. I feel like this book will stay with me for a long time. 10/10

Beautifully tender

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A must for any sapphic, especially as a sucker for a forbidden love story. Bit of a slow burn for me, some initial scenes felt a little cringe for me personally but it was so well construed of the age and context for Lucy, and the themes were on point and well written in a environment I could easily understand despite being so far removed. After its completion, I had a severe hangover from this book as I just wanted to find more books with the same level of detail, longing and connection.

Heartbreaking and beautifully narrated

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The story made me think of Normal People, the way relationships are often navigated without logic or sense of direction. It felt raw, joyful and painful. Lucy has no plan, but faith, an omnipotent mother,friends, society expectations and her secret, unacceptable first love. She takes you back to your youth, shame, confusion, need and persistent fear and conflicts. I adored this. Few audio books make me want to own the book too. This is one of them.

It is beautifully raw, naive and delicate in the language. The story flows with ease, even the parts which hurt flow in a steady easy way: in stark contrast to the story itself, which can have a feeling of angst.

I will buy the book, so I can read the words, feel the physicality of the book. I rarely feel compelled to do this. This is one of those occasions. Deftly written, constrained, yet forcing emotions to come to the fore as you read. It doesn't need to tell you what you should feel or remember. It just happens. Beautiful.

A poetic, painful & passionate telling of love

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Sooo many conversations in your head. This is as if someone took the time to write them down.

My trauma resurfaced and i could understand it a little bit better.

And by the way… i was dreading the ending…. But it was kind

Read and hear your own thoughts

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