“To be with her is a sin, to be without her is a tragedy.”
— Chloe Michelle Howarth, “Sunburn”
Sunburn is a slow and tender coming-of-age story, following the secret romance between two girls in 1990’s rural Ireland. Howarth guides us through this sapphic love story, along with the constraints imposed by Lucy’s loved ones in her small town, Crossmore. Lucy always assumed she’d end up with her best friend, Martin. She thought her feelings for him would develop with age. However, she catches her gaze lingering on Susannah’s mouth, clinging to her every glance. Her silent infatuation blossoms into an all-consuming summer romance, but Susannah warns that their relationship isn’t sustainable unless they go public.
Lucy adores the village that doesn’t love her back. She ignores this reality, and pushes to keep their relationship a secret out of fear. Howarth provides us with poetic prose that captures the trance-like summer the two girls submerge themselves in. Their relationship is sensual and innocent all at once. Lounging in the garden together, sun-kissed and blushing. Howarth’s lacy prose describing the world of Crossmore is romantic, but time seems to slow when Lucy’s eyes land on Susannah. Every fiber of the girl is magnified and admired.
Howarth’s lacy prose describing the world of Crossmore is romantic, but time seems to slow when Lucy’s eyes land on Susannah.
She longs to pause her summer eternally: to stay in Crossmore, to keep hold of Susannah, and for Martin and her mother to continue loving her. However, their perfect summer is flawed in its impermanence. While Lucy runs out of time, the tension rises for us. She knows she’s running out of time to choose between her mother and the love of her life. Neither of them permit any sort of compromise. Susannah’s looming ultimatum haunts their summer and the years following it. She loves her mother, she loves her town, she loves her friends. She’d be incomplete and false without Susannah, but she’d be outcast and shunned with her.
Susannah’s looming ultimatum haunts their summer and the years following it.
Religious allusions throughout the novel reflect Lucy’s inner conflict. Since we see how Susannah’s relationship with God shapes her early years in the book, we sympathize with the guilt surrounding her sexuality later in life. She confesses that “to be with her is a sin, to be without her is a tragedy.” If she had the choice, Lucy would marry Martin, stay in good graces with her mother, and continue an illicit relationship with Susannah eternally. This simply isn’t an option. Torn between two paths, Lucy makes a devastating choice, and for years mourns the alternate future she abandons.
Each chapter begins with the date it takes place, spanning from June 1989 to February 1995. Throughout the novel, Howarth incorporates love letters between the girls, intimate tokens Lucy clings to while grappling between two worlds. In this way, we can experience the relationship right alongside Lucy. She remarks that she only feels openly herself in her writing, and she allows nobody but Susannah to read her letters. The vulnerability and trust the girls share is unmatched. We read all of the letters shared between the two of them, we receive the timestamps and understand the years the two dedicate to one another. The letters allowed me to forge a deeper emotional connection to the characters. Holding the same pages that Lucy and Susannah hold, I was able to get into their minds and feel their feelings.
Throughout the novel, Howarth incorporates love letters between the girls, intimate tokens Lucy clings to while grappling between two worlds.
Sunburn captures a secret summer love with accuracy and beauty. The book reflects the intoxicating humidity of summer and the internal turmoil caused by the pressure to decide between two distinct futures. Howarth displays love flawlessly, including the sensual and romantic parts, but also capturing what it feels like to love every aspect of another person. The book shares what it’s like to be completely intertwined with someone. I recommend Sunburn for anyone longing for a summer read of substance, especially the hopeless romantics.
Chloe Michelle Howarth is an Irish writer, inspired by her adoration for Ireland and its culture. Her novel Sunburn was shortlisted for the 2023 Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction and for 2024 Book of the Year for The British Book Awards.
Sunburn can be purchased here.
Berkeley Fiction Review 
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