The Frozen River

The Frozen River: A Novel by Ariel Lawhon

Martha Ballard is a real midwife he lived in the early days of the United States. The author took some events from her life and then spun a legal case out of it. A frozen body was hauled out of the lake. This was a good-for-nothing guy that looked like he was murdered. Martha tries to get to the bottom of this. Meanwhile a woman accuses the dead guy and the local judge of raping her. Alas, it is difficult to get a rape accusation to stick since there are no witnesses. As a medical professional, the midwife is involved in both cases. However, a young Harvard-educated doctor comes into town and tries to take medical authority. He even tries delivering babies, but he does not have nearly the experience of a midwife in that area. Martha eventually helps tie up both the cases and even sets the judge in order. There can be justice in the legal system of the day, but it is not easy. There is also family drama of the day. The Martha of this book feels very modern, even with most of the other characters feeling placed in their day. The story moves quickly and is well engaging. I couldn't wait to figure out what happened to the characters. The ending took some interesting twists.