A native of Dayton, Tennessee, Annabel is working as a housekeeper at a hotel when she meets and marries George Craig. He is a lawyer come to town to start his career, but the honeymoon ends when a client George got acquitted commits a horrific act of violence. Why? George’s career get a boost when he joins Clarence Darrow’s team. Clarence Darrow’s team is defending the teaching of evolution in public schools. Annabell tries to merge her traditional beliefs with the positions of Darrow. Her husband, belittles her for being provincial and uneducated. As an avid amateur photographer, she’s thrilled when Lottie Nelson, a "lady reporter" she and George are putting up at their house, hires her to take pictures for the Chattanooga News. The story that Lottie Nelson files is destructive for George as she tells of ‘s negative views of the trial judge.Although Grunwald’s research is admirable, she can disrupt her own narrative with anticipatory statements. For example, when Lottie files a story disclosing what George’s negative views are about the trial judge. Two pages later, we learn just how damaging the story is. Annabel.can be simplistic, but she does offers some important insights. Women made the small decisions and men made the big ones.

In this historical fiction, the author writes “how the small decisions often had the biggest consequence such as how a family handled hardship, or how far a dollar could be stretched, or what a child was taught to believe. However the big decisions make more noise.” The author Provides a sense of how it felt to live in Dayton at the time of the Scopes trial.

This book is a fictional retelling of the very real and famous Scopes Monkey Trail that took place in 1925, in Dayton, Tennessee. The story is told form the viewpoint of a young woman, Annabel Craig. This book shows similarities to what’s happening in the United States today, nearly 100 years later, where we’re seeing a nation split between those who believe that religion explains all and those who believe that science explains everything. It also touches on how the media covers events.

Annabel is a happy new wife to her husband George, an up and coming young lawyer. All is wonderful until something terrible happens after he wins one case. The result is that George sinks into a deep depression. It’s only when the Scopes case come to life that he finds a way out of his darkness. It isn’t long before he joins the defense team of John Scopes, a coach and science teacher.

The book brings to life the trial and the famous attorneys at its forefront: Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. The two, both showmen, handle the case in very different ways. Bryan is all bluster and preaching; Darrow is calmer and more restrained. Still, each presents their side of the case in forceful ways that hold the townsfolk and media transfixed.

The book deals with everything beautifully, from its small-town atmosphere to Annabel’s blossoming move into feminism. It deftly handles difficult subjects: poverty, religious zealots, miscarriage, murder, suicide, depression, guilt, and troubled marriage.

I knew a fair amount about this trial coming into this book, but reading it added depth and more understanding to the tale. It brought much nuance and a rich sense of community that made the story itself real. I really enjoyed this book, especially the main character. Watching her grow, deal with the challenges put before her, and seeing her become more secure in what she wanted in her life, added to my enjoyment..

I highly recommend this book.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

The Scopes Trial was a milestone in American history. It was an event that divided neighbors on the issue of whether the theory of human evolution should be taught in public schools. It took place in Dayton, Tennessee, the home of Annabel Hayes. She fell in love with George Craig, a lawyer from Knoxville. Within a year of their marriage, she discovered that he was not the man she thought he was. When John Scopes was arrested George joined Clarence Darrow’s defense team, putting more pressure on their marriage. As events unfold Annabel begins to question things that she had always believed, realizing that things were not always black and white. Along the way she also became more independent. The story is told by an older Annabel who is able to reflect on her own evolution. At a time when our country is once again divided when it comes to what is taught in our schools Lisa Grunwald’s story is relevant to today’s atmosphere. This was well written and Annabel is a character that will stay with you long after her story is over. I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing this book.

I very much enjoyed “Time after Time” by this author, so I looked forward to reading this new book by her. It was not quite what I was expecting, with so many “heavy” topics. This may turn out to be a good book for book club discussions with all the topics covered, but it just wasn’t for me.

4.5 stars
Annabel has lived in Dayton, TN, all her life and is now married to one of the supporting attorneys to Clarence Darrow's Scopes Monkey Trial, or where they put the teaching of evolution on trial. The teacher Scopes couldn't even remember if he'd covered evolution in any of his days as a substitute teacher but went along with being the subject of the trial just to get a verdict in the history books.

I'd forgotten what this book was about but I found it extremely informative and entertaining. Separately, it reminded me that Clarence Darrow's first law office when out of school was in my small Illinois hometown, which you can see mentioned on Darrow's Wikipedia page but not on anything you'll ever see about my hometown. It's their guilty secret, I believe, being in a conservative part of Illinois.

Throughout Annabel's marriage and the trial proceedings, she evolves from a typical housewife to a free-thinking, strong woman. I'm surprised this hasn't been more widely read, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy women's issues or historical fiction. This was brought to my attention when gifted to me by Penguin Random House through NetGalley, and the audiobook I borrowed through Libby was very excellent.

"I had never questioned a miracle, witnessed a gunfight, or seen a dead body. . . . I had thought I knew exactly what I wanted and what I didn’t. Before the summer was over, all that and much more would change." (The Evolution of Annabel Craig)

I thought I had read the blurb and synopsis thoroughly but apparently my mind was somewhere else. Expecting something far more lighthearted I was at first confused then totally engrossed by Grunwald’s writing on this historic conflict.

As a devout church goer, believing in biblical principles, watching Annabel Craig pose so many questions to herself, her beliefs and teachings was nothing short of inspirational. Blessed are those who are able to watch, listen, question and reason with everything they have been taught without previous challenge. Having seen the movie numerous times as well as the Broadway Play, knowing that much of both of these productions were theater, it is easy to overlook the effect this conflict had on the ordinary man. Do you relinquish your belief in the Creator because men of science offer another theory? How do you reconcile such different notions? Listening to Annabel Craig question the science vis-a-vis her beliefs and similarly her relationship with her husband was akin to watching a peony unfurl its petals.

Well written and thoughtfully told, this story was worth every minute I spent reading and contemplating. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a copy

Lisa Grunwald has written this fictional story with facts of the Scopes Trial (the trial in 1925 to forbid the teaching of evolution in the public schools in Tennessee) as seen by a young newly married lady. Dayton, Tennessee, will see a trial that takes place in that town because some businessmen want to publicize their little town. Annabel was an amateur photographer and by virtue of volunteering to be the photographer for the trial she will be an eyewitness. Little did she realize that her life would drastically change as she began questioning all aspects of her life in Dayton. A informative book as well as an opportunity for one to question for oneself. Totally absorbing and delightful read. Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for an advance read copy of this book; this is my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for this e- copy of The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald in exchange for a honest review. This is a well researched book about a young woman named Annabel Craig who is married to a lawyer named George. They live a peaceful existence in Dayton , Tennessee until the Scopes Monkey Trial comes to town in 1925. George joins the defense team of Clarence Darrow and everything that Annabel holds dear is upended- she suffers a miscarriage, and she realizes that the man she married isn’t the person he appeared to be . It is set in a time where women’s’ opinions weren’t valued and through her hardships Annabel transforms herself into an independent, self-supporting , strong woman .

I was not sure what to expect with this book but I was pleasantly surprised. I did not know a lot about the Scopes trial in the 1920's, but the author did a great job of balancing both sides of the story. The balance between science and religion is managed well in this book. I enjoyed the characters as well. They had a good story along with the story of the trial. This could be set today and hold the same importance as it did then. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this advanced copy.

I don’t even remember what drew me to request this book at first, but by the time I started reading it, I had no idea what the story was about. I went in completely blind.Once I realized it was a historical fiction novel based in rural Tennessee, I was intrigued. Then, when I learned it was about the infamous 1925 Scopes Trial, I needed to know more — what was the Scopes Trial about exactly?! *I couldn’t remember.* Finally, I realized the story was based on the true legal battle regarding teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in the public schools system. By then … I. WAS. HOOKED!

I paired reading the physical copy with listening to the audiobook, and I jotted down so many notes while I was listening. Here are a few of the moments that intrigued me or caught my attention.

**SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD**

- I found it interesting that women joined “canning clubs” as a way to gain independence and earn the ability to do things on their own — away from their husbands oversight. I loved their motto too: “See how we CAN.”
- I didn’t remember the extreme magnitude of The Spanish Flu; it killed some 50 million people!
- The main character, Annabel, grew up on a strawberry farm until 16 years go age when her parents died. I’ve never read a book that featured the kind of farm that feels THAT wholesome.
- I don’t remember where this quote is located in the book, but I do remember dying laughing — “I thought I looked like a russet potato!” — Oh, is that relatable or what?!
- Annabel likes the “care-taking trope” more than I do. She hears, “I’ve got you!” one time, and then she’s married 3 months later!!
- I love serendipitous moments — such as a 4th of July reference in the story as I was reading it on the 4th of July.
- There were a lot of characters and until you learned them all, it was hard to remember IF or WHY they were important. I loved how the author wrote into the story ways to gently remind the reader which characters were tied to which occurrences. It was so helpful to me!

If any of the above notes appeal to you, I think you will also enjoy this book.

Tennessee’s 1925 Butler Act made it illegal to teach “any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”

Annibel Craig is a young newlywed in Butler, TN, where this controversial law prohibiting teaching evolution was - quite intentionally - first challenged. What ensued was the famous Scopes Trial which (per Wikipedia) “included a raucous confrontation between prosecution attorney and fundamentalist religious leader, William Jennings Bryan, and noted defense attorney and religious agnostic, Clarence Darrow.”

Through clear and clever writing, the author brings us inside the perspective of a local bystander - not really an ideologue on either side of the debate. (And at a time when women were hardly thought to have any kind of policy or political mind whatsoever. “Women had won the vote in 1920 three years before, but we wouldn’t be allowed on juries till decades later.”) I thought it was fascinating.

“…gradually, I realized it didn’t matter what each man believed about creation or evolution or what should be taught and where: They all agreed emphatically that testing the law in Dayton would be sure to bring in business—maybe even revive the blast furnace that had once helped the town thrive.”

“… if you’d asked me about evolution then, all I would have told you is that folks who believed in it thought men had come from monkeys, and so we should pray for those folks. I’d have told you I’d heard that evolution was a conspiracy hatched by godless Yankee highbrows to turn good Christians away from the Bible and therefore destine us to spend eternity in hell.”

“…And if you didn’t hold to the Bible on Creation, what else might you not believe? I had never thought to ask. There had been no need to. The sky was blue, the hills were purple, the summers were long, and the Bible was true.”

The development of the trial was told very well from Annabel’s perspective, threading through the public dialogue her private reflections as everything she’s been taught is challenged.

“What is the purpose of this examination?” “The purpose,” Bryan declared, turning his whole body to face the crowd, “is to cast ridicule on everybody who believes in the Bible.” “We have the purpose,” Darrow responded with equal passion, “of preventing bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the education of the United States, and you know it, and that is all.”

“I thought of the different strains of strawberries my father had planted, and the seed catalogues he’d pored over, looking for new blends of grass. No one seemed to have a problem believing that other things in nature had altered over time. Only man was supposed to have been perfect from the start.”

This story was beautifully told, has all of the elements of great historical fiction: well researched, clearly presents the facts known about the story and cultural context while bringing the reader inside what people likely thought and might have felt at the time. And does it through round, evolving characters with their own believable voices and relatable challenges. 4.5 stars rounded up :)

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald" was nothing like I was expecting it to be; it was better. Set in the heart of the bible-belt in 1920s Tennessee, Annabel Craig, nee Hayes, embarks on a journey of her own evolution, while her husband, George supports the defense team in the Scopes trail.

For a Historical Fiction, the novel does a fascinating job showcasing the character development for our small-town residents. Annabel starts off as the supportive housewife, slightly ashamed her husband was assigned to the defense in fear of what her neighbors may think. However, she soon meets Lottie Nelson, a reporter from Chattanooga, who shows her women can be more than just homemakers - and recruits Annabel use her camera to take photos of the trail.

Grunwald delivery and writing allowed the divisive topic to easily digested. Threw Annabel's eyes what little memory I had left regarding the Scopes trail from AP US History, was quickly jog awake; as I was reminded of one of the first true tests in America regarding the separation of church and state.

Wow this book really pulls at the heartstrings a little because of the faith element. As a lawyer, you have to defend your client based on law etc. and you can't allow personal feelings and or beliefs into it. This book really had me and it's well written. I really enjoyed it and I would read this author again.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance read copy of this book. This is an historical fiction book based upon the John Scopes trials. I love historical fiction because it opens me up to things that I didn't previously know. The John Scopes trial was about the right to teach evolution in schools versus creation.

Side note - It's amazing that 100 years later we are still having similar discussions.

This story follows the wife of one of John Scopes' attorneys. It shows her path from a simple farm girl to someone who stands up for her self. And not in big ways. In realistic, small actions that demonstrate great growth.

It's a beautiful story of a woman finding strength within herself. I definitely recommend this story to people who support strong woman and their journeys to do great things.

I’m so glad I read this. I vaguely knew what the Scopes trial was, but this book gave me a thorough look at it. The trial was undertaken in order to get publicity for the small Tennessee town. The reference to evolution in the textbook cited was minimal and quite generalized.

At the center of the story is a young woman married to one of the attorneys. Her role becomes increasingly complex as she gradually comes in to her own.

It was shocking at how little has changed about education in the past century. The constant battle between knowledge and religion is ongoing. The separation of church and state is important and ignored by so many. Knowing things simply does not contradict faith.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig was my first novel by Lisa Grunwald and I really enjoyed this book! It a story of self-discovery about Annabel Craig, a "good Christian woman," whose faith and beliefs are tested when her husband becomes one of the attorneys defending John Scopes after he is arrested for teaching evolution in the state of Tennessee during the 1920s.

This is my favorite kind of historical fiction, in that it is based on a story with which we are all (hopefully) familiar: the Scopes Trial. However, I think most of us, myself included, do not know the nitty-gritty details of this important moment in history. Grunwald seeks to explain and highlight how it remains relevant in today's political climate by showing us the personal evolution of the story's protagonist. Like many of her friends and neighbors, Annabel fears change, so she is resistant to opening her mind and heart to new ideas and ways of living. I appreciated how the growth in Annabel is handled while she remains true to herself and her faith. It is sad that 100 years later, we are still dealing with those who seek to oppress others and stalwart progress due to the same ideologies featured in this story.

"Some changes cannot be missed: the vivid flowerings of summer, the fallow fields of winter. Others require a keen eye: the color of a strawberry when it's nearly too ripe; the confidence of a small child conquering her first staircase; a man who's lost his faith in himself; a woman who's gained hers. I did not know, in the robust heat of that summer of 1925, which changes mattered most. I simply wanted to fear none of them."

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing Group for the arc to review!

I was a huge fan of Lisa Grunwald's Time After Time and was so excited to be approved for an ARC of The Evolution of Annabel Craig, an incredibly timely story.

My favorite way to study history is by way of historical fiction. I really enjoyed the historical background of the Scopes trial and watching Annabel grow into a strong and wise character. It was a reminder that science and religion can coexist.

This book was beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and an important read for our time.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the advanced copy of this book.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig is set down south in the early to mid 1920s, and reflects the simple times and simple themes of the salt-of-the-earth people that Annabel’s life touched. Until, one day, in a ploy to drive some publicity and tourism to Dayton, Tennessee, the townsfolk made a substitute teacher the stoolie to dispute the Butler Act. It turns out that the Butler Act prevents teaching evolution, preferring to keep the schoolchildren ignorant to that concept, and instead focusing their education and faith centered around the church. John Scopes agreed to say that he taught evolution one day while he was substituting in a Dayton classroom, and they were off to the races. Of course this had almost nothing to do with John Scopes and everything to do with juxtaposition of long-standing beliefs and science, each side thinking the other is fundamentally incorrect. Lisa Grunwald did a fantastic job through the prose, pacing, wording, dialogue and descriptions of putting you in that place and time, with all the emotions that come along. At times I thought the story was too focused on religion and Annabel’s adherence to her faith, the way she saw many things through the veil of religion and belief; but then I understood that was very intentional to drive home how important religion was for the community, especially given the failure of the schools to teach or talk about anything else. I didn’t know much about The Monkey Trials before this book and I found all the facets of this book’s explanation to be utterly fascinating.

THE EVOLUTION OF ANNABEL CRAIG by Lisa Grunwald has a beautiful, eye-catching cover, but this work of historical fiction moves slowly. In the first third of the book, readers meet insecure Annabel, orphaned at age 16 due to the 1918 flu epidemic and recently married to a young lawyer named George Craig. Sadly, he, too, loses his nerve after one of his acquitted clients commits a horrific murder. George is reinvigorated by the thought of working on the Scopes trial and Grunwald cleverly incorporates historic characters like William Jennings Bryan, H. L. Mencken, and Clarence Darrow. She even places Annabel in the courtroom due to her interest in photography. With parallels to today on issues like media coverage, book bans, or the debate between science and religion (according to the author, twenty states currently permit teaching creationism alongside evolution), THE EVOLUTION OF ANNABEL CRAIG poses interesting questions for book clubs, if readers can stay engaged. However, I would also suggest reading Monkey Town by Ronald Kidd. Although written for a young adult audience, it is excellent (starred reviews from Horn Book and Kirkus) and would be of interest to anyone who is curious about this time period (1925) and the Scopes Trial.

3.5 stars

This is a captivatingly layered book, well written and completely absorbing.
I've never really paid much attention to what led up to the Scopes Trial back in 1925 and the defense of the Butler Act which was basically not allowing evolution to be taught in Tennessee schools. Holding onto the belief of creationism, the concept that something other than God created man was blasphemous and sinful to those of this small town of Dayton, Tennessee and during one hot, lazy summer day, a few men, bored and looking to stir up some business in their sleepy town, sat in a drug store called Robinson's and conceived the idea to bring a new biology teacher to the court's attention for failure to abide by the Butler Act. This case became known nationwide as the Scopes Monkey trial and brought to town big hitters in the legal world including William Jennings Bryan and Charles Darwin. What was on trial was the bible and Christianity vs. the concept that man descended from prehistoric animals. Press corps descended on the town as well with fierce reporting, for and against which stirred people of all opinions around the country.
The story is told by fictional Annabel Craig whose husband and lawyer George ultimately became part of the case. Theirs was a new marriage and she was smitten by the way he cared for her, called her cute nicknames and wanted for them to have a family. She had been orphaned at age 16 and lived on her own in a boarding house until her marriage. She had only a few female influences to know how to be a wife but she always had her strong faith. George was a college educated man who had a more worldly outlook of the world. He wanted to make it in the law firm he worked for and took on a case involving a husband who killed the man his wife was in a tryst with. The backlash of what came afterwards sends George spiraling and for a year, he and his wife are essentially roommates. The Scopes trial suddenly pulls George from his depression and she sees the man who she used to know as her husband but in that year, Annabel was growing, but not with him. She became a amateur photographer and with reporter Lottie Nelson who boarded in their home for the trial, she went to court to capture the moments there. Meantime, George's enthusiasm for defending Scopes himself, their views of life became challenged and Annabel began to question everything she has always thought was the truth. George became less tolerant of her "hick" thinking and things in their marriage go from not great to even worse. But this will not sway Annabel because now she knows who she can be and isn't afraid to go on her own to find out; her growth is a wonder to see.
Annabel is challenged by what she is hearing in the courtroom by many learned men in the science fields and this confuses her quite a bit. But when she knows that her marriage is not going to last, she compares that science to explain that "how some types of rocks lasted longer than other, but how when the water got into crevices and froze, it could, over time break any rock apart." @76%
The characters were so well written and believable, and the story so well researched. Annabel is a memorable character. For anyone who enjoys historical fiction, this is a must read!
I didn't think the cover art worked for the story. It was too cartoonish and seemed more like the story would be more whimsical. It is anything but!