Book Review of The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald

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book stats:

[#] pages, to be published in April 2024 (I received an Advanced Copy of this novel through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

you may enjoy this book if you like:

Historic fiction * Novels based on true stories

travel inspiration:

The Evolution of Annabel Craig is set in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, in the 1920s. This small town was thrust into the public consciousness when it became the epicenter of the famous Scopes trial, which tested the ability to teach evolution in schools.

about the author: Lisa grunwald

Lisa Grunwald is a writer of fiction and editor of several anthologies and lives with her husband in New York City. This novel is her seventh and follows Time After Time (2019), The Irresistible Henry House (2011), Whatever Makes You Happy (2005), New Year’s Eve (1998), The Theory of Everything (1990), and Summer (1985).

review of the evolution of annabel craig by lisa grunwald

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.

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