Depicting the gradual disintegration of the aristocratic Compson family through four fractured narratives, this novel explores intense, passionate family relationships where there is no love, only self-centredness.

It features some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy, the manchild Benjy, haunted, neurotic Quentin, Jason, the brutal cynic, and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character's voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner's masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.