Tamar Shapiro grew up in both the U.S. and Germany and now lives in Washington, DC with her husband, two children, and the world’s best dog. Her debut novel is
Restitution.
Shapiro’s writing also appears in
Electric Literature,
Poets and Writers, and
Literary Hub (forthcoming). A former housing attorney and non-profit leader, she is a 2026 MFA candidate at Randolph College in Virginia.
At Electric Lit Shapiro tagged
eight novels "set in countries that have fractured, shifting our maps and our conceptions of the world. The reconfigurations covered on these pages take many different shapes, but all are born of violence, and the scars are still visible." One title on the list:
Milkman by Anna Burns
Milkman, which won the 2018 Booker Award, does not explicitly mention Northern Ireland. In fact, the book steers clear of proper 
nouns and names, instead using descriptors, such as “country over the water” and “country over the border.” Still, it is clear Milkman is about a young woman in 1970s Northern Ireland, who is being stalked by a paramilitary leader in her neighborhood. At the same time (and perhaps because of his interest), she faces constant surveillance. Intimate and political oppression quickly become one and the same. In a place of violence and divided loyalties, everyday items and mundane choices are deadly political symbols. At once horrifying and deeply revealing, Milkman lays bare the ways in which communities and individuals fall apart.
Read about
another entry on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
Shapiro’s writing also appears in Electric Literature, Poets and Writers, and Literary Hub (forthcoming). A former housing attorney and non-profit leader, she is a 2026 MFA candidate at Randolph College in Virginia.
Posts
