Portraying the characters and events of a small Midwestern town at the end of the nineteenth century, Winesburg, Ohio is a cycle of stories which reads like an episodic novel. Centring on George Willard, a young local reporter with big-city aspirations, and his interactions with fellow inhabitants, the book gives voice to a disparate cast of figures and lays bare the constraints and struggles of life in a small community. A landmark work of American naturalism and a priceless chronicle of rural life, Winesburg, Ohio has been compared to the writings of Turgenev, Chekhov, Dreiser and Twain, and hugely influenced authors such as Steinbeck, Hemingway and Faulkner.