Milkman: A Novel

Finalist for the Man Booker Prize

"Everything about this novel rings true . . . Original, funny, disarmingly oblique and unique."-The Guardian

In an unnamed city, middle sister stands out for the wrong reasons. She reads while walking, for one. And she has been taking French night classes downtown. So when a local paramilitary named Milkman begins pursuing her, she suddenly becomes "interesting," the last thing she ever wanted to be. Despite middle sister's attempts to avoid him-and to keep her mother from finding out about her maybe-boyfriend-rumors spread and the threat of violence lingers. Milkman is a story of the way inaction can have enormous repercussions, in a time when the wrong flag, wrong religion, or even a sunset can be subversive. Told with ferocious energy and sly, wicked humor, Milkman establishes Anna Burns as one of the most consequential voices of our day.

"Eccentric and oddly beguiling . . . What makes it memorable is the funny, alienated, common-sensical voice of middle sister, who refuses to join in the madness." -The Sunday Times (UK)

"Milkman is delivered in a breathless, hectic, glorious torrent . . . It's an astute, exquisite account of Northern Ireland's social landscap . . . A potent and urgent book, with more than a hint of barely contained fury." -Irish Independent

"I haven't stopped talking about Anna Burns's astonishing Milkman. The voice is dazzling, funny, acute. Like all great writing it invents its own context, becomes its own universe." -Eoin McNamee, The Irish Times

"From the opening page her words pull us into the daily violence of her world-threats of murder, people killed by state hit squads-while responding to the everyday realities of her life as a young woman." -Kwame Anthony Appiah, chair of Man Booker Prize judging panel