The Frozen River

Name: The Frozen River
Author: Ariel Lawhon

By:Ariel Lawhon

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The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon centers on Martha Ballard, a skilled midwife in 1789 Maine whose detailed diary captures the births, deaths, and scandals of her tight-knit frontier community. When a man accused of rape is found frozen in the Kennebec River, Martha performs an autopsy revealing signs of murder, but a rival physician dismisses it as an accident, forcing her to investigate amid whispers, legal battles, and threats to her family. As winter deepens and tensions rise over justice for a parson's wife and hidden town secrets, Martha balances her duties delivering babies, protecting her mute son, and challenging powerful men in a society that silences women.

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The Frozen River

Published Dec 5, 2023

Jamie’s review

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Set in 1789 in Maine and inspired by the diaries of Martha Ballard, a midwife and healer, who works to uncover the truth about a shocking murder in her town while also protecting her family. It's suspenseful and disturbing at times, but pretty slow and mostly made me appreciate that I was not alive in 1789 😆 No thank you for MANY reasons.

I did love Martha. She's smart and clever and altruistic. I also loved that the FMC was 54 years old and not the typical 18-24 year old in all my usual fantasy books.

It's well done historical fiction mystery but I couldn't ever get invested in this miserable little town. There's some small victories along the way but it was a VERY depressing story and I was not in the right headspace when I read it.