Sarah Skye-Craig

AN OUTSTANDING MASTERPIECE... I've read and listened to hundreds of incredible books but this one, I will never forget. Everything about it will remain with me long after the final word. My heart and stomach rose and sank, broke and mended like the wing of a bird, both organs battling between themselves, my brain desperate to make sense of the tragedies and horrors that unfolded among the bones of its pages, the dysfunctional family to which Mungo was born and the unforgiving society within which they inhabited. And yet, still the beauty rises from the gloaming, the darkness of nature and humanity, softnened by the will and preservation of hope, love and light, like the falling of feathers upon the soul. Young Mungo is heroic, even if he never knows it. So, too, is James Jameson. Douglas Stuart writes with conviction and passion, like he's forging on this treacherous journey, not alone, but with us, forcing us to look, to understand, to care and to tolerate - his prose raw, wild, urgent and gritty - its message, following the story's events, loud and clear. I had previously read Douglas Stuart's debut novel, Shuggie Bain, which has its parallels and showed the promise of an even greater work to come. This one. Young Mungo.

Milkman is a stunning literary debut. I'm almost always blown away by Irish literature and this is no exception. I've read a handful of less than positive reviews including 'awful', '...a waste of 14 hours of my life' and 'tedious', but if you're a reader who loves the unusual, intelligent, the subversive, the forensic examination of life and humanity - in this case, as observed and experienced through the lens of a smart reflective 18 year old girl, 'Middle Sister', older and wiser well beyond her years - living through The Troubles of Northern Ireland in the 70s, you'll find yourself drawn into that world and how not just survival but the making sense of who and what you are, what's expected, it affected those living in the districts Ann Burns, with perfection depicts, complemented by the flawless narration of Brid ..... The minutiae and subtext creep into the beautiful prose, with some laugh at loud observations, and I finally understood why friends of my own and others I've met who grew up in those districts were inherently suspicious of others, fearful of their true natures and intentions, and rarely trusted anyone, even themselves. I love the nuance of how the characters are named as eg 'Maybe Boyfriend' , 'Tablets Girl', ' 3rd Brother-in-Law' to name a few ... making this an intriguing and memorable way of storytelling.