Author: Ariel Lawhon
Published: December 5, 2023 by Doubleday
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 432 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
First Sentence: The body floats downstream.
Blurb: Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
My Opinion: After a slow start with too many characters to keep straight, the Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon turns into a captivating fact-based historical mystery that immerses the reader in the life and times of Martha Ballard, a true-to-life gutsy and clever midwife who solved a murder in 18th-century Maine. Lawhon used her little-known story to expertly weave fact and fiction, creating a rich and authentic portrait of a remarkable woman who defied the norms of her society and left a lasting legacy.
A legacy that not only included the delivering of over 1,000 births without losing a single mother to being the great-aunt of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and also being the great-great-grandmother of Mary Hobart, one of the first female physicians in the United States.
Blurb: Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
My Opinion: After a slow start with too many characters to keep straight, the Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon turns into a captivating fact-based historical mystery that immerses the reader in the life and times of Martha Ballard, a true-to-life gutsy and clever midwife who solved a murder in 18th-century Maine. Lawhon used her little-known story to expertly weave fact and fiction, creating a rich and authentic portrait of a remarkable woman who defied the norms of her society and left a lasting legacy.
A legacy that not only included the delivering of over 1,000 births without losing a single mother to being the great-aunt of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and also being the great-great-grandmother of Mary Hobart, one of the first female physicians in the United States.
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