Parenthetical.net

The subtitle of this book is “The Summer of the Scopes Trial,” which says most of what you need to know. It takes place in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, in the summer of 1925, when Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan famously fought the big battles of religion vs. science and big-city education vs. small-town values that we’re still fighting today.

The book is well-researched, and I always get the hang of history better when it’s fictionalized. For instance, did you know that the whole trial was (ill-)conceived as a publicity stunt for the town? True fact! The character of the town and the era come through loud and clear, and Frances’s conflict between loving her home and feeling hemmed in by its provinciality feels so believable. (And I heart teacher-crush books, because high-school-me overidentifies.)

The dedication reads, in part, “And to Frances Robinson Gabbert, who lived it.” According to the Author’s Note, though, it turns out she… didn’t, so much. She was only eight at the time, not fifteen, and as such had no romantic feelings for Johnny Scopes, no quirky friendship with H. L. Mencken, no spiritual crisis, and no coming-of-age conflict with her father. She just happened to have lived in Dayton during the trial (and to be the daughter of the big-shot drugstore owner; that part is real).

The book did have a Mary Sue feel, as Frances just happened to be close to all the major players. But the book is so well-written that I totally bought into it and was disappointed to find that it wasn’t real. That’ll teach me to get too invested in the truth of “based on a true story”!