Middle sister undertakes various steps to try to evade her stalker, but the situation spirals out of her control as the community at large becomes convinced that she’s having an affair with milkman. Milkman, however, continues to pursue her in ever more disturbing ways when speaking with her, he makes it clear that he’s highly familiar with her schedule and habits, and eventually begins to threaten to have maybe-boyfriend killed on trumped-up charges of being an informer for the state. Middle sister has a boyfriend ( maybe-boyfriend) and is in any case uninterested in milkman, so she refuses the offer. One day as she is walking around the neighborhood, she’s approached by a 41-year-old paramilitary in a white van (“milkman”), who offers her a ride. Middle sister, however, continues to live with her widowed mother (“ma”) and three younger siblings (“wee sisters”) while working and attending night classes downtown. It follows the story of an 18-year-old woman living in a Catholic and separatist stronghold “middle sister,” as she most commonly refers to herself, is one of 11 children, the eldest of whom have all either left home or died. Milkman takes place in an unnamed city (probably Belfast) in 1970s Northern Ireland. This study guide refers to the 2018 Graywolf Press edition of the novel. Other aspects of what Burns calls the work’s “experimental” style include a lack of names and a highly voice-driven narrative.

In Milkman, however, Burns refers to these events only indirectly, calling those associated with the local paramilitary forces (probably the IRA) “renouncers,” and speaking of England and loyalist strongholds as “over the water” and “over the road,” respectively.

Like Burns herself, the novel’s protagonist grows up in 1970s Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles: a 30-year political, ethnic, and religious conflict between nationalists (primarily Catholic and of Irish descent) seeking to split from the United Kingdom, and loyalists (primarily Protestant descendants of British settlers) seeking to remain. Burns was the first Northern Irish writer ever to receive the award, and Milkman’s subject matter is inseparable from its author’s nationality. Milkman is author Anna Burns’ third novel, as well as the winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize in Fiction (widely regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in literature).

Milkman burns