From the Bookshelf of 2025 Reading Challenge…

The Frozen River

Ariel Lawhon

Start date: August 1, 2024

Finish date: August 31, 2024

Discussion: October 2025 Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: August 2024 Featured Buddy Read
[close] August 2024 Featured Buddy Read

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October 2025 Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Apr 29, 2025 Noel rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-stars, audiobook, historical-fiction, libby, 2025

Martha Ballard is a midwife living in Hallowell, Lincoln County, Maine in 1789, about 20 miles away from where my 5th great grandparents lived at that time. Martha actually left a diary that chronicled her work delivering babies and caring for women which I read many years ago. The Frozen River is the historical fiction account of this incredible, strong woman.

The story includes a mystery of a body found either murdered or died by suicide in the river. Martha is called to investigate and controv ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2025 Melissa Wiebe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, 2025, mystery, suspense, historical-fiction, bookclub, favorites, based-on-a-true-story

4.5⭐️

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 31, 2025 Bakios rated it it was amazing

The Frozen River recounts the true story of Martha Ballard, an American midwife in 18th-century Maine. Her detailed journal serves as a rare record from a woman of her time, documenting her work and daily life. It offers an intriguing perspective on a strong-willed woman and historical fiction.

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Apr 13, 2024 Angela Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club-books

I loved this story...and am still fascinated by the life of this midwife, who was so amazing that the ripples of her influence are still felt in the medical community today. Martha Ballard was a strong and amazing woman, wife, mother, and midwife who dedicated her life to helping women and those in her community. This story if a powerful one and Lawhon writes in such as way that I felt like I was there with her through the emergencies at night as she is called to a birth, to the courtroom in the ...more

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Feb 04, 2025 Michelle Gragg rated it liked it

Fictional retelling based on midwife Martha Ballard’s diary. Compelling story and I enjoyed it. Made me curious about the authors other books. However, I was a little turned off by the authors other books note. I’d like someone who knows her to tell her about midwives and midwifery. Small thing, but to have written so much about a midwife and to do a decent portrayal of the stress between medicine and midwifery I would have expected her to understand a little more.

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