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Intro
Middle sister, a young woman living in an unnamed town in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, is a normal person who tries to keep away from the politics of her area. She has multiple renouncers (Irish Catholic enemies of the British state forces) in her family, but she personally does not care for politics and simply wants to live her life. However, she stands out in her community because she likes to read 19th-century novels while walking, which everyone else thinks is strange.
One day, while walking and reading, middle sister attracts the attention of Milkman, a renouncer who specializes in surveillance. Milkman asks middle sister if he can give her a ride, which she politely declines. Not long after, middle sister encounters Milkman again while out on a run. This time Milkman does not say much, though middle sister can tell he is interested in her. Following these encounters with Milkman, people start to spread rumors that middle sister and Milkman are having sex, which is especially problematic because Milkman has a wife. Nearly everyone in town buys into the rumor, including middle sister’s mother, who urges her daughter to end the relationship.
Middle sister encounters Milkman a third time while walking through a deserted part of town after her French class. This meeting is notably more menacing, as Milkman implies that he could kill middle sister’s maybe-boyfriend if he wanted to. As their conversation ends, several other men who are associates of Milkman emerge seemingly out of nowhere and they all walk away together. Following this encounter, middle sister feels as though Milkman is everywhere. Often, he shows up and watches her, issuing veiled threats under his breath, and she feels like he has eyes on her even when he is not around. To make matters worse, she has not told maybe-boyfriend, who she continues to see, about what is going on with Milkman. However, because she is stressed out about the situation, she and maybe-boyfriend regularly fight.
Maybe-boyfriend is under considerable stress himself because he got into a fight over a supercharger he acquired from a British racecar. One member of his neighborhood with renouncer sympathies did not like that maybe-boyfriend would take anything containing British iconography, which led to the fight. As a result, the renouncers harass maybe-boyfriend, which middle sister worries could result in violence.
One day, middle sister goes for drinks with longest friend, a woman she has known since primary school. Longest friend warns middle sister that she has become a pariah in the community because of her strange habits (reading while walking) and her affiliation with Milkman. The same evening, a mentally ill woman, tablets girl, puts poison in middle sister’s drink, which makes her ill for several days. When middle sister recovers from her illness, she learns that someone slit tablets girl’s throat, and many people suspect that Milkman is responsible. The murder makes middle sister even more of a pariah in town because everyone thinks she and Milkman are together, and therefore tablets girl’s death was an act of retaliation.
While middle sister is still recovering, she learns that real milkman (the man who actually brings milk to the community), has been shot. Real milkman is an old friend of her mother’s, and her mother regularly goes to visit him in the hospital. Eventually, middle sister realizes that her mother is in love with real milkman and always has been. Because middle sister’s father is dead (and has been for some time), middle sister encourages her mother to romantically pursue real milkman. Eventually, middle sister’s mother decides middle sister is right and does just that.
Around the same time, middle sister goes to visit maybe-boyfriend, who is angry with her because he thinks she is embarrassed of him. However, when middle sister arrives at maybe-boyfriend’s home, she finds the door kicked in. Quietly, middle sister peers into the kitchen where she sees maybe-boyfriend with his best friend, chef. Maybe-boyfriend cannot open his eyes because someone—presumably a renouncer and possibly Milkman—threw something dangerous (maybe chemical) into them. Chef tries to convince maybe-boyfriend to go to the hospital, but maybe-boyfriend does not want to go. Then, chef and maybe-boyfriend share a romantic moment where chef strokes maybe-boyfriend’s face and then kisses him. They talk about how they should be together, still unaware that middle sister is listening in on them.
Feeling she should not announce her presence at this point, middle sister leaves. On the way home, Milkman pulls up next to middle sister and offers her a ride. Feeling defeated, middle sister accepts his offer, and he takes her home. Before dropping middle sister off, Milkman tells her he will be back the following night to take her on a date.
However, the next day, a state defender shoots Milkman. The state defenders had been after Milkman for some time and repeatedly shot the wrong person, including real milkman. Feeling relieved, middle sister goes out to the local club for a drink, where she runs into Somebody McSomebody, a boy who is romantically interested in her, but whom she has repeatedly rejected. Somebody McSomebody corners middle sister in a bathroom and puts a gun to her chest. However, with the help of several other women, middle sister wrestles the gun away from him. The crime gets reported to the renouncers, who prosecute Somebody McSomebody for what he has done. With Somebody McSomebody and Milkman out of the way, middle sister finally feels comfortable returning to her regular life.
