Young Woman

Young Woman is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. Like all of the characters, her name is never is never actually given to the reader. During the novel’s setting—in the 1970s—Young Woman is 18 years old. She lives in a town somewhere in the northern region of Ireland. (As she narrates events from this time in her life, she is actually looking back in them from later in life, in modern times.) At age 18, Young Woman lives with her mother and her younger sisters. All of her other siblings have either married and moved out, been killed in Troubles-related violence, or been driven out of town by soldiers/militants.

Young Woman’s main storyline centers on her being stalked by a local man called Milkman. People begin to gossip that she is participating in a consensual sexual relationship with Milkman; this false gossip angers her...