Joan Mackenzie reviews The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Hello I'm Joan and this book is called The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. It is set in Maine in the 18th century when a frozen body is found entombed in the Kennebec River. And everything unfolds from that discovery. Martha Ballard is the midwife in the small community and the story is based on the real Martha Ballard who did in fact exist. She keeps meticulous records of births and deaths and everything in between and when she determines that this body was murdered she runs into some serious opposition. But then when the local pastor’s wife complains of having been viciously attacked she decides that the two things are probably linked. As I was reading this book I kept thinking about how extraordinarily brave the real Martha Ballard must have been breathtakingly so. With her husband as her biggest supporter, so it’s such a shame then when she comes to believe that their son may be involved in these things. The thing about this book is that it is so elegantly crafted. It’s got a lot of grace set against a backdrop of a great deal of bitterness and a frozen atmosphere. It’s like peeling the layers off an onion. The author takes you along for the entire ride and I didn’t want to miss a single word of it.