BOOKS FROM IRELANDMilkman
by Anna Burns
Tags:
Set in Ireland
Female author
Description:
THERE WERE 'OUR SHOPS' AND 'THEIR SHOPS'. PLACENAMES. WHAT SCHOOL YOU WENT TO. WHAT PRAYERS YOU SAID...YOU CREATED A POLITICAL STATEMENT EVERYWHERE YOU WENT, AND WITH EVERYTHING YOU DID, EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO... In Northern Ireland, to be interesting is dangerous. Middle sister, our protagonist, is busy attempting to keep her mother from discovering her maybe-boyfriend and to keep everyone in the dark about her encounter with Milkman. But when first brother-in-law sniffs out her struggle, and rumours start to swell, middle sister becomes 'interesting'. The last thing she ever wanted to be. To be interesting is to be noticed and to be noticed is dangerous. Set against the backdrop of the Troubles, MILKMAN is a tale of gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness...and of inaction with enormous consequences.