In which we learn you can walk on a frozen river, just go slow
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Stars: 5
52 Book Club Summer Prompt #16 - Road Cycling: Book Set in a Time Period Before Modern Transportation.
Ok, full disclosure, I was fully prepared to not like this book. Or at least to be a little bit snotty about it. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s book, A Midwife’s Tale, the biography of Frozen River’s main character, Martha Ballard, is such an important work in modern history and when Thatcher Ulrich took Ballard’s diary, a truly remarkable piece of history in itself, she gave a voice to the history of women in early America. Martha Ballard was neither exceptionally wealthy or well-connected, so lives like hers hadn’t received the same examination of those closer to the “important” men of the Revolutionary period (e.g. Abigail Adams and Martha Washington); A Midwife’s Tale provided a look at what life could have been like for an “ordinary” woman. It was also one of the books that inspired me to change my major and become a historian!
All that is to say, I felt a little protective of Martha and wasn’t sure how Lawhon would use her diaries to create a framework for a murder mystery. Alas, all the people that told me I would love this were right. On Saturday night at 9pm I was on page 184 and was like, I will read a little bit more and then before I knew it, it was 2am. But I couldn’t put the book down. This is a tense thriller that manages to keep you on the edge of your seat while illuminating the hardships and struggles women endured in the late eighteenth-century. Even when they were able to gather a certain degree of power, as Martha did, they had very limited their agency. Plus, Lawhon nails the no-nonsense Yankee sensibility perfectly, with its dry sense of humor and impatience for tomfoolery.
But at its heart, I felt that this was a love story, of husbands and wives, mothers and children, neighbors and friends. None of it is perfect, but it is true. I know I am not giving you a synopsis but you can read the blurb, I’m just here to tell you that this is a must read. And that is high praise from this historical fiction snob.
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