Milkman by Anna Burns

The place is Northern Ireland during the time of The Troubles.  The conflict is everything and every aspect of life is filtered through the prism of which side you sympathize with and whether any action or thought of yours can be construed as supporting the enemy.  Everything is scrutinized and the result is a claustrophobic existence in which even names are valuable secrets that cannot be bandied about with freedom.

One girl tries to make her way through the cloudiness and restrictions.  We never learn her name.  We learn that there is a man called The Milkman who has staked a claim to her.  He is fairly high up in the paramilitary that controls everything so even though she has no interest in him, the community assumes she is his mistress and then condemns her for it.  Every family she knows has lost children to the conflict; she has lost a brother, another is exiled as is a sister.  She still lives with her mother whose only concern is getting her safely married and her younger female siblings. 

She learns lessons.  She has a maybe boyfriend who never comes to her neighborhood and whose existence she keeps secret.  There is a woman who poisons those around her but since the police and medical establishment are considered agents of the state, the community tries to handle the situation and cure those poisoned by themselves.  She learns that you can never expect love to work out and you marry someone who can suit rather than the one you really love as it will be too painful to lose them as you inevitably will.  You must fit in with no actions or thoughts that make you stand out.  The community is everything, the individual nothing.

Anna Burns has written a book that will be long remembered by readers.  It won the Booker Prize in 2018 and is deserving of that honor.  It shows the results of a land torn apart in a way that is like a blow to the heart.  Those who see the division that has struck our own country can read this book as a warning of what can occur when we lose the ability to even interact with those we disagree with.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.