Sunburn Scorched My Heart: A Review

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.

-Sunburn, by Chloe Michelle Howarth

When I first invested in Sunburn, I read reviews that compared it to notable books such as Normal People by Sally Rooney. Books being held in high esteem and hype comes with the risk of not living up to it. Thankfully, Sunburn reached every expectation.

Chloe Michelle Howarth successfully connects what being a lesbian is like in a Catholic-centered society. Our female protagonist, Lucy, is in a consistent battle between her love for God and her love for Susannah. Catholic guilt and religious undertones are profound during the entire narrative of the novel. Lucy condemns herself and her heart, which calls for Susannah, making their romance tortuous, compelling, and electrifying. Having a devastatingly complex female character at the forefront of Sunburn is enough to keep you magnetised to each page for every romantic and ruthless decision that is made. (And the yearning, oh the yearning.)

There is a great weight that comes with each dynamic through the novel’s narrative; complex relationships between mothers and daughters, friendship groups and the tribes and tribulations of first sapphic love are acutely insightful and devastatingly tender. On a personal note, as a reader, I connect heavily with Lucy’s inner battle between her head and her heart. The yearning for a girl instead of the ‘correct’ yearning for a boy is something I think most queer people can connect with; the fear and self-judgement have been profound moments in many of our lives. ‘To be with her is a sin, to be without her is a tragedy.’ 

This book became everything I hoped it would be and more. I held my breath on each page, only releasing a gasp, a laugh or even a smile, and emotion was joined by many tears. Chloe Michelle Howarth does an exceptional job of expressing each character in their deep and flawed personalities. The love story between Lucy and Susannah is conveyed with absolute poetry and intensity for a forbidden first love story, and every emotional punch that is swung hits you hard. 

5/5 ★★★★★