Sex of the Midwest

Reverberations of Elizabeth Strout's tales from Crosby, Maine, echo in Ryle's charming series of linked stories about loneliness and belonging in a small town. (Washington Post)

With humor and grace, Ryle depicts a quirky cast of characters and their post-pandemic hopes, fears, gripes, and longings in this engaging collection of linked stories. One foggy morning, an email appears in inboxes across the small town of Lanier, Indiana. "Invitation to Participate: Sexual Practices in a Small Midwestern Town," the subject line reads. A link leads to an extensive survey. Street by street and resident by resident-from the basketball coach in retirement with a bad lung, to the bartender finding her way to writing, to the health department worker with a vendetta against the hot-dog vendor-the email opens up the secret (and not so secret) lives of one community, and reveals the surprising complexity of love, friendship, and belonging in our post-Covid times.

An NPR Best Books of 2025 pick

An Electric Literature Best Short Story Collections of 2025 pick