The fictional town in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is Maycomb. Harper Lee places the novel in Maycomb County, Alabama, where Scout Finch recounts events from her childhood during the 1930s.
Maycomb is not simply a backdrop. Its close-knit social structure exposes the divisions of the Depression-era American South, including racial injustice, class prejudice and rigid expectations about family reputation. Scout's father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who defends Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman.
Scout and her brother Jem also become fascinated by their reclusive neighbour Arthur “Boo” Radley. Their changing understanding of Boo parallels Scout's growing ability to see beyond Maycomb's rumours and inherited assumptions.
Maycomb is sometimes confused with Mayberry, the fictional North Carolina town from 'The Andy Griffith Show', or with Macomb, Mississippi, the birthplace of Harper Lee. The novel itself is set in Alabama, and Maycomb is generally understood as a fictionalised version of Lee's hometown of Monroeville.