Here goes for my first ever post! :)

I wanted to share some praise for, and recommend, the very last novel I read in 2024, titled Milkman, written by Anna Burns.

It's (very recent) historical and general fiction that centres on an unnamed female character, around 18 years of age, during the Irish Troubles, in ~1970s' Belfast (the city is never named but I'm pretty certain it's meant to take place in Belfast), as she is being stalked/harassed by a man in her community, who she only knows as 'Milkman', and who is pretty high up in one of the local paramilitary groups (probably the IRA, but again it remains unnamed).

I wanted to share this recommendation here, specifically because I found the theming in this novel, on the (actual, legit) intersection between sex-based oppression/misogynistic discrimination and violence, and the experience of civil war – as well as the conflicting community, cultural and religious loyalties involved in said civil war – of very high quality! There was a lot of very nuanced and thoughtful, not to mention moving, writing on this topic, and also the intertwining experiences of personal and communal trauma.

I found it resonating as an individual woman, and individual with CPTSD, and as the partner of an Irish person (from the North of the country too). I also really enjoyed the prose style and so... yeah, I'd highly recommend it if you like thematically engaging, historical and/or general fiction, fiction that touches upon female experiences, or more specifically fiction concerned with the more modern history of Ireland! :)