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Milkman (novel)Milkman is a historical psychological fiction novel written by the Irish author Anna Burns. Set during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the story follows an 18-year-old girl who is harassed by an older married man known as the "milkman". It is Burns's first novel to be published after Little Constructions in 2007, and is her third overall.

Milkman received strongly positive reviews, with critics mostly praising the book's narration, atmosphere, humour, and its complex portrayal of Northern Irish sociopolitics. Milkman won several awards, including the 2018 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, marking the first time a Northern Irish writer has been awarded the prize. The novel also won the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, as well as the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award. As of 2019, the novel has sold in excess of 540,000 copies.

Plot
Milkman is set in Northern Ireland during the 1970s, at the height of The Troubles. The narrator is an unnamed 18 year old girl living in an unnamed city sympathetic to the republican cause. Milkman, a high-ranking paramilitary officer, takes an interest in the girl, beginning to stalk her and offer her unwanted car rides. Rumors spread that the girl is having an affair with the married Milkman, straining her relationship with her mother and the wider community. These rumors compound as the girl continues her relationship with her "maybe-boyfriend," who she has been dating for a year but struggles to commit to.

As Milkman's stalking becomes more intense, he makes veiled threats of killing maybe-boyfriend if she does not break up with him. The girl becomes more withdrawn and she and maybe-boyfriend drift apart. When the girl meets with her "longest friend from primary school," her friend suggests the girl's oblivious behavior, particularly "reading-while-walking," has led her to become a social pariah and thus enabled the rumors. During this meeting, the girl is poisoned by "tablets girl," a mentally ill local woman. The girl becomes severely sick, but recovers. Tablets girl is found murdered soon after, and the community assumes Milkman killed her as revenge for harming the narrator, further souring her reputation within the community.

The girl and maybe-boyfriend break up over a tense phone call. The girl goes to his house to reconcile, but discovers he is in love with and more committed to his best friend. Resigning herself to her fate, the girl finally accepts a ride from Milkman back to her house. Milkman promises to take her on a date tomorrow night. However, the next morning, Milkman is shot and killed by British security forces. While the girl is at a club, she is ambushed in the bathroom by another intermittent stalker, Somebody McSomebody, who threatens to kill her. The girl is saved by the other women in the bathroom beating him up. With her stalkers no longer troubling her, the girl's life returns to a state of normalcy.

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