One foggy morning, an email appears in inboxes across the small town of Lanier, Indiana, population 12,234. “Invitation to Participate: Sexual Practices in a Small Midwestern Town,” the subject line reads. A link leads to an extensive survey. But why has Lanier been chosen? And by whom? Street by street and resident by resident–from the Covid-stricken basketball coach, to the bartender finding her way to writing, to the bureaucrat with a vendetta against the hot-dog vendor–the email opens up the secret (and not so secret) lives of one small town, and reveals the surprising complexity of Midwestern life in our post-pandemic times.

An NPR “Books We Love 2025” pick

REVIEWS

“… the author’s trenchant insights and affection for the characters, especially Lanier itself, abound. Comparisons to Olive Kitteridge are inevitable, but the tone and expansiveness of this novel-in-stories hark back to Spoon River Anthology (if not Chaucer). Thoroughly refreshing: an astute portrait of contemporary small-town America that’s genuinely fun to read.”

— Kirkus

“Ah, the Midwest, home of flatness and reticence. Like the people of Winesburg, Ohio, the residents of Lanier, Indiana, harbor their hopes and fears privately, afraid no one else will understand. Robyn Ryle knows her small town inside and out, celebrating the strange and mundane equally. SEX OF THE MIDWEST isn’t about sex so much as love and loneliness, and, ultimately, belonging.”

— Stewart O’Nan, author of EMILY, ALONE

“I’ve not been this undone and awed by a short story collection since The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Robyn Ryle proves that narrative fearlessness, ambition and radical play reach their highest resonance when foundationed on an ungodly talent and stunning skill.'

— Kiese Laymon, author of LONG DIVISION and HEAVY: AN AMERICAN MEMOIR