We’ve all heard of beach reads, but what about a fireside read? I have had The Frozen River on my “to be read list” for quite awhile, but the timing has never felt right to want to read it. Enter the arctic blast of 2025 and the timing never felt better! This is definitely a great winter read as it takes place in Maine over a long cold winter in 1789. This book is very unique and the storyline is not like anything I have ever read. I truly enjoyed the characters, the plot and the setting. It took me a minute to really get into it, but once I got hooked, I couldn’t put it down.
This is the perfect book to sit by the fire with this winter!
Add it to your bookshelf here ==> THE FROZEN RIVER
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.
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Happy Reading!
xoxo-
Heather
I am also reading this book. About 40% in and completely engaged!
It is so different and I loved the plot!
I just finished this book for my book club, I loved it! It is a historical fiction, but I like to believe that Martha Ballard was the strong and somewhat sassy lady that she is in the book! It is so nice to see that women have come a long way since that time. Sit and relax and enjoy!
I definitely did a deep dive on her after reading it. I can’t imagine how tough she would have been!