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Orphaned as a teenager during the Spanish flu epidemic, Annabel is supported by her church and her community in sleepy Dayton, Tennessee, but doesn’t feel truly connected to anyone until attorney George Craig literally sweeps her off her feet. While their marriage initially seems picture-perfect, dual tragedies threaten her tentative happiness as George withdraws. When the town fathers contrive to put Dayton on the map by providing the ACLU with a test case challenging a state law forbidding schools from teaching evolution, George’s interest in the case renews Annabel’s hope for their marriage. But his alliance with teacher John Scopes’ lead defense attorney, Clarence Darrow, puts them at odds with their neighbors. Then Annabel hosts Lottie Nelson, a visiting reporter who encourages her independence and interest in photography, even getting her into the press box. As the trial progresses, Annabel questions her religion and her aspirations. Grunwald (Time after Time, 2019) wisely tells the story from the perspective of an older Annabel, reflecting her own evolution. Sure to be a book-club favorite as well as a gentle corrective to our current polarized culture.

Publishers Weekly
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The layered and timely latest from Grunwald (Time After Time) revolves around the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. Orphaned at age 16 in the 1918 flu pandemic, Annabel Craig counts herself lucky to have found domestic bliss with her lawyer husband, George. Then a client of George’s is acquitted for murder and subsequently kills his young son and himself, prompting George to retreat emotionally from Annabel and disappear for days on end. When Annabel reports she’s had a miscarriage, George fails to express concern for her well-being. His old spark returns, however, when he joins Clarence Darrow’s defense team in the case against high school teacher John Scopes for violating a Tennessee law prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Annabel, who grew up attending one of the local Methodist churches, finds her initial preference for populist preacher and prosecutor William Jennings Bryan challenged during the trial. Her assumptions about women’s place in marriage and society are likewise shaken by Lottie Nelson, an ambitious young reporter covering the case. Grunwald provides vivid depictions of the influx of reporters and expert witnesses into small-town Dayton, Tenn., as well as a nuanced and well-rounded view of the religious townspeople. With book bans and anti-trans legislation tearing apart school districts, Grunwald’s evenhanded historical speaks volumes to the present day. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (Apr.)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A Tennessee woman is swept into the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial when her camera skills get her a front-row seat at the proceedings, causing her to grow away from her upbringing. A native of Dayton, Tennessee, Annabel is working as a housekeeper at a hotel when she meets and marries George Craig, 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. George’s spirits and career get a boost when he joins Clarence Darrow’s team, which is defending the teaching of evolution in public schools. Annabel navigates the shoals of her marriage and tries to square her traditional beliefs with the positions of Darrow—and her husband, who belittles her for being provincial and uneducated. Nevertheless, 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. Although Grunwald’s research is admirable, she can disrupt her own narrative with anticipatory statements. For example, when Lottie files a story disclosing George’s negative views of the trial judge, rather than letting the consequences unfold, Grunwald has Annabel say, “I guessed that her story would be exceptionally long. I didn’t guess that it would also be exceptionally destructive.” Two pages later, we learn just how damaging the story is. In considering the pros and cons of the South, Annabel can be simplistic, but she does offer some important insights. “Women made the small decisions and men made the big ones. The small decisions often had the biggest consequences, like how a family handled hardship, or how far a dollar could be stretched, or what a child was taught to believe. But the big decisions made more noise.” Provides a sense of how it felt to be in Dayton at the time of the Scopes trial. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.