I like any story that includes the Scopes trial and this was no different. A wild tale but fun and well written. I like the characters.

This book! is one of the best books I have ever read! Set in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925, the background is the trial of John Scopes and the battle of religion vs. evolution and science. The trial lawyers were Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. INHERIT THE WIND was a play written on the very same subject. This book of the finest eloquently written literature, by Lisa Grunwald, should be read by everyone, especially history/religious buffs! It is a story of the wakening of Annabel Craig throughout this trial, and awaken she does, in sublime style. Beautifully written, it is truly a piece of incredible research and facts. Thank you to Random House Publishing and Net galley for the ARC....This book goes into my top 5 of books read this year! WONDERFUL!

I loved this book! Lisa Grunwald has, once again, created such a memorable cast of characters as she brings the story of the Scopes "Monkey" trial vividly to life. The author has created quite an amazing main character in Annabel Craig to explore the world at the time of the trial Orphaned at a young age, Annabel has her own evolution throughout the book as she questions both what her beliefs are and what her own life journey should be. She, as well as the character Lottie, are strong female characters, searching for a new definition of what it means to be a woman. The Scopes trial has always been a fascination of mine, as it was a pivotal moment in the search for the truth of how mankind came to be. The truth behind how the trial actually came to be was a revelation of facts I had not previously known. I found the book to be totally absorbing and it kept my attention from beginning to end! A thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for my advance copy. The opinions of the review are my own.

Interesting historical fiction novel based on the scopes trial of 1925, evolution vs.the Bible. Annabel Craig is a young bride witnessing the trial in her small Southern town. The trial shakes up the beliefs she grew up with and challenges the life she thought she wanted.
History repeats itself and I couldn’t help but compare it to the divisions our country faces today. I especially liked the character of Lottie, an independent, female reporter and the friendship she has with Annabel.
I enjoyed this book and recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm so happy that NetGalley provided a free e-arc copy for me to read one of my favorite authors. I find Lisa Grunwald stories thought provoking and her characters well-written. She researches and succinctly sets the scenes within the time and language of the eras where she bases her stories. I also enjoy lead female stories.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig did not disappoint. The topic is timely for our current day political environment from a historic recurrence standpoint.
The fictional story is created around the Scopes Trial which is the legal proceedings regarding teaching evolution in the TN school system where creation and religion caused divisions within the community as well within the marriage of the protagonist, Annabel Craig.
This story takes you on a journey with Annabel as a young girl and into adulthood and her marriage to one of the local attorneys in the trial. Without giving too much away, it's exciting to see Annabel grow as she herself learns of the world outside her front door, illuminating perspectives of science and religion, and what opportunities for her career lay beyond her doorstep.

I'll read anything Lisa Grunwald writes. She always leaves me seeking more information beyond the last pages. I highly recommend reading this book.

In the fictionalized look at the Scopes Trial, we find young Annabel Craig married to a local defense attorney. While we follow the trial, we also see Annabel's thinking evolve. Totally fascinating.

nnabel Hayes—born, baptized, and orphaned in the small conservative town of Dayton, Tennessee—is thrilled to find herself falling quickly and deeply in love with George Craig, a sophisticated attorney arriving from Knoxville. But before the end of their first year of marriage, they experience losses in their lives. The strain on their marriage is intensified when John T. Scopes is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution at the local high school. The trial against Scopes is a spectacle unlike any the country has seen. William Jennings Bryan—a revered Southern politician—joins the prosecution, pitting himself and his faith against the renowned defense attorney Clarence Darrow. Journalists descend in a frenzy, putting the town and its citizens into the national spotlight. And when George joins the team defending Scopes, Annabel begins to question both her beliefs and her vows. As the ongoing trial divides the town, it also divides the Craigs in unexpected ways. But in the midst of these conflicts—one waged in an open courtroom, the other behind closed doors—Annabel will discover that the path to her own evolution begins with the courage to think for herself.

As a native Tennessean, I have heard and read about the Scopes Trial most of my life. This author gives more insight into what the trial did to the town and it people, more than the actual trial itself. The author is a really good writer, and her descriptions of the town and people were so vivid that you felt that you were there. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for offering me the book for my reading and review. I highly recommend this book to those interested in history.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig - Lisa Grunwald
Genre: Historical Fiction

My favorite history teacher was so because she taught us history through the telling of stories. I love historical fiction for that very reason. I had a cursory knowledge of the Scopes Trial, but experiencing it through the eyes of Annabel Craig in Grunewald’s novel The Evolution of Annabel Craig was a much deeper look into this historic event. Annabel Craig is forced to mature quickly when she is orphaned as a teenage girl. She moves into a boarding home, gets a job, and with the help of her community grows into adulthood. She meets and marries a local lawyer and is looking forward to a better future. A group of local residents decide to draft a young teacher to be charged with teaching evolution in his biology classroom leading to the historical Scopes trial featuring Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryant. Their goal is to bring attention to their small town of Dayton, Tennessee. Annabel’s world is upended again as the trial challenges everything from her faith, to her notions of friendship, to her understanding of her husband and what being married means.
I didn’t know as much as I should about this trial, so I welcomed learning more through this work of fiction. I have done some reading since and appreciate how well Grunewald captures the spirit of the town, the trial, and many of the participants. She really does make history come alive. The town, the cast of supporting characters, are exceptionally developed given their large number. So, too are the trial guests - the reporters and the lawyers. My favorite part though is the development of Annabel. Grunewald does a remarkable job of presenting the extremists from both sides of the trial while exploring Annabel who remains a devout Christian who comes to understand and accept more fully the science of evolution. Grunewald’s thoughtful exploration of Annabel’s conversations with friends and family who have different ideas provides nuance that is often missing in political and religious discourse. Of course Annabel struggles - losing the love and respect of some closest to her, but she emerges strong, and we are given hints of what her future life might hold. I’d read about this life to be sure.

Orphaned, alone, and working to survive, life has been rough for Annabel until her fortune changes with a chance meeting with lawyer George Craig. George has newly arrived from big city Knoxville and is educated, intellectually curious, and immediately smitten with Annabel. After a whirlwind romance that seems almost too good to be true, they settle in to a nice home with neighbors that Annabel befriends. For the first time, she is exposed to a middle/upper-middle class existence in her rural town of Dayton, Tennessee.

George takes a case defending a local man in a salacious murder trial. Reverberations from the trial’s outcome lead the defendant, freed from George’s work, to wreak havoc on his family. George goes from darling to town albatross in a heartbeat. The halcyon days of George and Annabel’s marriage are soon forgotten. The toll the stress takes on George nearly breaks him at the same time that Annabel is confronting her first pregnancy. Instead of pulling together as a couple, these external factors test the durability of the rubber band that binds them.

Enter the Scopes trial.

Dayton, Tennessee, besides likely causing confusion for people familiar with the more well-known Dayton, Ohio, is famous for becoming a hotbed of media attention in the 1920s during the Scopes trial. This is the real-world trial where the right to teach evolution in schools was tested in a courtroom in the heat of a midwestern summer.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig shares the fictional perspective of a local who finds herself enmeshed in the excitement and big city energy of the trial. The media who come in for the trial find themselves in a town that seems laughably behind the times, and the novel does a great job depicting the divide that is still seen in our country today, one hundred years later. Annabel, raised in her local church’s tradition, is shocked when she learns that her husband is defending the teacher who taught evolution. In her mind, that is something only a Godless heathen can do, and she worries for George’s soul. When a female member of the media moves in with them, Annabel is suddenly confronted with how other women are testing their roles in society. Annabel believes her entire life should be dedicated to her husband and his needs, a concept that the journalist starts testing as she provides Annabel opportunities to be a courtroom photographer, turning her passion into an actual career endeavor.

At its heart, The Evolution of Annabel Craig is a modern re-telling of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which is referenced within. The novel is full of dichotomies: rural/urban, Christian/Athiest, traditionalist/modernist that come to a head in Annabel and George’s relationship, which centers around one of the oldest dichotomies of time: the role of man and woman.

The novel was fast-faced, engaging, and full of interesting characters and dialogue. I found myself wondering how much of the novel was based upon fact, a topic that the author addresses at the end. The main characters were her creation, but much of the court case and information about the journalism is based on actual events and documentation.

Annabel, who begins the novel as a caged creature, finds herself and her voice in an unexpected transformation that leaves the reader rooting for her every step of the way out of her nest.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
Annabel becomes orphaned as a teenager and her belief in God is what helps her survive. She marries young and realizes that all the world does not believe as she does (including her own husband). Her beliefs are tested and evolve as the world converges on Dayton, TN in 1925 for the Scopes Evolution case. Annabel is an interesting character and I like that she's not afraid to push her boundaries as she realizes that a whole world is out there of people with different belief systems.

An interesting book set in the small Christian town that became famous for the Scopes Trial in the 1920's. Annabelle, a deeply religoius woman , marries George, a lawyer from Knoxville. With her life set to become a wife and mother, her entire life is changed when her husband becomes involved the the Scopes Trial along with Clarence Darrow. More charecters are introduced. including William Jenning Bryant and various reporters. A town divided by opinions will lead Annabelle to find her own path to follow. Though slow in some parts ,If you never knew much about the Scopes Trial, this is a must read.

NOTE: I received an advanced readers copy of this book and I'm writing this review voluntarily. Thank you netgalley and Random House. Scheduled publication: April 16, 2024.

THE EVOLUTION OF ANNABEL CRAIG is solid, well-written historical fiction centered around the famous Scopes Trial (aka the Monkey Trial) that took place in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. The novel examines the impact of the trial on the town, and on one woman in particular. It's a story that feels particularly timely, given what's going on in the United States at this moment.

I think I first learned about the Scopes Trial (named for teacher-defendant John T. Scopes) many decades ago when I watched the powerful 1960 movie Inherit the Wind, starring Fredric March and Spencer Tracy, though that movie was adapted from a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (NO, NOT the Civil War general).

I'm not sure younger readers are familiar with this case; it was a religion vs. science trial to determine whether the scientific theory of evolution could be taught in Tennessee public schools. Remember that Tennessee is solidly in the Bible Belt, an area of the United States that has historically been deeply conservative and devoutly Christian. Interesting to note that the term Bible Belt is credited to journalist H.L. Mencken who covered the Scopes Trial and is a character in this novel.

The story begins when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announces it will finance a test case against a new law in Tennessee, called the Butler Act, which made it illegal to teach evolution in the schools, for fear it would undermine belief in God and the Bible. An ambitious group of businessmen in Dayton decide a trial could boost publicity, prestige, and tourism in their struggling town. So they talk unassuming teacher and football coach, John Thomas Scopes into becoming the defendant. This informal meeting is overheard near the beginning of the novel by one of Dayton's residents, Annabel Craig, a young woman in her 20s, newly married, devoutly religious, and typical of most residents in Dayton.

You may already know that this trial becomes quite a big deal, drawing journalists from all over the country along with many prominent experts including Clarence Darrow, the chief attorney representing Scopes, and William Jennings Bryan, former populist presidential candidate and chief attorney defending the Butler Act.

It's both fun and fascinating to watch how these small town residents change as the trial unfolds. Generally everyone pulls together in preparation, opening their homes to strangers, and creating merchandise to sell. But the trial doesn't unfold quite the way people expect. Some journalists are biased and not always clear about what information is on the record versus what's off the record. Friendships and marriages are tested as tensions increase. And no one is more affected than Annabel, whose husband winds up on the defense team.

I found this trial a wonderful subject for a historical novel and Lisa Grunwald has done a good job imagining how Dayton was likely affected by the trial. And it gave me a glimpse into small town life in Prohibition era America. A very interesting chapter in United States history.

Annabel Craig, wife of George, was born in Dayton, Tennessee, and lost both her parents to the flu pandemic in 1918. Shew grew up alone but maintained the practice of the faith her parents had instilled in her and with memories of their love.

Comfortable with the idea of her role-to-be of wife and mother, she marries attorney George Craig, who eventually becomes part of Clarence Darrow's team during the Scopes trial.

Although Lisa Grunwald paints a wonderful picture of the community and the trial itself, illustrating vividly the personalities of William Jennings Byan, Darrow, and H.L. Mencken, (then a reporter). And those are the parts I liked. What I found less interesting was Annabel's "come-to-realizer" about her husband. George, whom she loves deeply. George turns out to be someone other than the man she thought he was.

Although the contrast between the fundamentalists and the scientists were of interest, it seemed to me that Annabel took longer than is believable to define her own role and the truth about George.

The book reads better as a historical novel than it does as women's fiction. It would have been stronger if the genre was either one or the other. Thank you to Random House and Net alley for an ARC copy of this book.

A beautifully written novel drawing the reader into small town living and ideas in the 1920s. The Scopes trial brought the town attention and much discussion on whether evolution should be taught in schools. I had heard of this trial but knew very little of the details. The novel details the subject and characters involved while expertly weaving in the evolution of Annabel Craig a women discovering herself in the era where women had limited choices.

The Evolution of Annabel Craig
Lisa Grunwald
April 16, 2024
Random House
*Historical Fiction
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
New author for me , but I was unexpectedly delighted. I love historical fiction and learning about the Scopes trial took me on a fictional journey that led me to more research.
Amazing Book.
4 stars

I appreciated having access to an early version of this book through NetGalley.

I read an earlier book of Grunwald's, The Irresistible Henry House and liked that she used fiction to educate me about something I never knew existed. "Practice houses" complete with real live "practice babies" sourced from orphanages, were a feature of some college home economics programs in the first half of the 20th century. Grunwald convincingly imagined what adult life might have been like for a baby boy who grew up surrounded by interchangeable foster mothers.

When I saw that she'd turned her attention to the Scopes Monkey Trial, I was eager to get my hands on it. Based in fact and historic records, with fictional characters interacting with actual ones, the book brings to life the wider impact of the trial on the small community where it happened.

A young woman, Annabel, is in the early years of marriage when the trial happens in her hometown of Dayton, Tennessee. Her husband, George, happens to be an attorney who eagerly joins the defense team both for the chance to work alongside Clarence Darrow and to defend evolution. When a journalist, Lottie, who comes to cover the trial recruits Annabel to be her photographer, Annabel finds herself in the middle of legal and personal dramas.

I appreciate what I think Grunwald was trying to do. Beyond simply reviewing an important historic and legal moment through fiction, she shows how people can change when they open themselves up to new ideas. In our current moment of polarized politics, the book felt like a primer in moderation and contemplation, rather than knee-jerk reaction. Knee-jerkers abound, of course, but they don't get the author's support.

Yet for all of this, it read like an academic exercise rather than a novel. Too much felt too contrived for it to unfold naturally. I didn't understand George's changes in mood and affect. Did he have a mental health condition that made him react so severely to his professional ups and downs? I didn't think there'd be any way a reporter would board in the home of one of the defense attorneys, as Lottie does. On and on it went for me. I couldn't believe the story enough to immerse myself in it.

This book is much darker than the rather light-hearted cover would suggest. I was intrigued by the premise of the creation/evolution school curriculum debate, but even just the first quarter of the story is bogged down by tragedy (murder/suicide, infant death, miscarriage...).

I also just wasn't a fan of the writing. I prefer to be shown the story instead of told the story–meaning I like to witness conversations and plot development instead of passive language cataloguing the events.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An interesting historical fiction novel set in the time of the Scopes Monkey trial. It was a bit slow to start but i did enjoy it in the end. It’s nice to read the perspective of a young but strong female protagonist.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from net galley in exchange for my honest opinion,
I was interested in this one because of the time frame and the events depicted. The Scopes Monkey trail is something I’ve read a bit on and was curious to see it in a historical fiction setting. I wasn’t disappointed either. It was a quick easy read- something I think I’ll return to after I’ve read more about some of the key players.

Great Author, Great Story, Loved it more than her others. A great book for a lazy weekend afternoon for an escape. Thanks