The Frozen River
The Frozen River
By: Ariel Lawhon
[Fulfilled ‘A book with a silver cover’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[Nominated for’ Best Historical Fiction’ in the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
I thought this book was very compelling, but even more so when I found out this book was inspired by the life of the historical woman, Martha Ballard, and events she chronicled in her diary. (She was the great aunt to Clara Barton!)
This novel is set in Maine during the late 1700s. Paul Revere has had his moment, but the government and justice system are still in the early stages. Whoever wants to lament America’s current system and champion the idea of unknown freedoms, they should probably give this book a read and see how far we’ve come as a nation.
Reading Reforming Criminal Justice by Matthew T. Martens does not leave me with the luxury of thinking we have no problems now, but man if I’m not thankful to be a woman today than a woman during Martha Ballard’s time with far fewer rights or avenues of recourse.
Martha Ballard is one of the midwives in town. This fact alone already gives me anxiety— I am fully onboard with hospital births. But I will say that it was interesting and… right… for me to read about her practice during this time. Just the knowledge that had to be taught and handed down to other women to aid in birth is amazing! According to the historic diary, Martha never lost a mother in any of her deliveries which is also a feat in and of itself.
“Every so often, I tend a patient who makes the act of birth a thing of beauty. They make it look like what it really is, at its most elemental— right and natural— and I cannot help but marvel.”
I love the value and importance placed on giving birth in this book. Some might read this book and feel their third-wave feminist war cry rise up in their chest: Sexual freedom for all with no consequences for women! Look at the burden of giving birth, we shouldn’t have to do that if we don’t want to!
But I read this book and I am reminded of the wonder and the gift of giving birth. I am also reminded that God knows the sinful heart of man and the vulnerability of women. He has given commands in order to protect women and children. He has designed sex for marriage and children for both a mother and a father in order to give stability and provision and love.
There is still pain in childbirth, but it’s hard not to see the beauty in the way God created women to have a home in their womb to grow new life and bring it into the world. It’s not a burden; it truly is a gift.
Of course, a pregnancy that is a result of rape brings a new level and depth of pain that cannot be ignored and this book portrays that turmoil. I can’t imagine what that feels like. But I think the book also shows how precious still that little baby is, who did not ask to be conceived in such a way. How those children still need protection and nourishment and love!
Lawhon depicts that with both Rebecca’s baby and with Martha’s adult son Cyrus. I like that she not only shows the vulnerable, unwanted baby and the foundational right to life Martha believes that baby to have, but also the picture of a baby like that all grown up in the character of Cyrus. Martha’s love for her son doesn’t waver even though his conception is a memory of pain.
Now this book is not just about midwifery, though that’s an essential piece. There is tragedy and there is murder.
The main conflict of The Frozen River is the claim of Rebecca Foster, the wife of the recently ‘removed’ preacher, that two men raped her. One of which is the main ‘law guy’ in town. The other man was found dead in the partially frozen river looking like he’d been hanged.
The laws regarding fornication and slander during this time are crazy. Generally speaking the men had no real consequence for sleeping around and the woman was left with a hefty fine, the complete care and providing for any child, and the social stigma that usually kept her from a future marriage as well.
The exception being the case of rape where the consequence for the man was hanging. However, as we still know today, even with rape kits it is often a hard crime to prove.
I don’t disagree that you need very convincing evidence to convict a man of rape, especially when the repercussion is someone’s life and it’s basically one person’s word against another’s, because you don’t want to get it wrong. But unfortunately, that leaves a lot of justice undone.
“The jury acquitted every man tried of rape that day. But they fined a woman into poverty for spreading lies about a judge’s daughter.”
So in the story of this book, the charges of rape have been brought and Martha is one of Rebecca’s primary witnesses, having seen her shortly after the rape and the damage done to her. Even then, a woman had to have her husband with her to testify so the man on trial- Joseph North- is doing everything he can to prevent Martha from being able to give her testimony.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the TV show Turn (which takes place during the Revolutionary War). If you have, then you understand the amount of hatred you feel toward the character of Major Hewlett. That is the feeling you feel toward Joseph North. You hate his stupid face and you hate how his position of power helps him get away with the worst things.
I know hate is wrong and that God calls us to love our enemies. I’m just saying, Joseph North and Major Hewlett are both people that really make it hard to see them as image bearers. Like so hard.
Without giving away the outcome, I will say that you will feel some satisfaction with some of the justice that occurs on behalf of Rebecca and you don’t leave this book feeling the complete weight of injustice. Some people going into a book with this kind of conflict might need to know that before they get into it so I want to assure you that you will not leave the book empty-handed.
Not only does Rebecca have to try to convince a court of what happened to her, but one of the men is now dead. Unfortunately for Rebecca, a gal helping her at home, also the town gossip, overheard her say that she wished her husband had been the one to kill him. Because… obviously. But the girl takes and reports those words as a confession. The murder must be resolved and Rebecca’s husband had motive to do it.
Martha is determined to see justice done for Rebecca on both accounts and takes it upon herself to figure out how to do that. Because she has kept a daily record of events in her diary, she has some pieces of information that will help get to the truth.
I just love the character of Martha. I love her commitment to her work and to the women in the town, even the women who are not kind to her. Her desire and charge is to protect and save life. Even at the very end of the story we see that value upheld which is pretty powerful.
I had some mixed feelings throughout the book at a few different things Martha says.
Like saying this of the delivery room: “Men have no place in this room, no right… I of all people understand the myriad, unfair ways that women find themselves in childbirth.”
Now I’m not saying men would overall be very helpful in a delivery room or that men who have raped deserve to be there, but this blanket statement goes too far. A husband/father for sure has a right to be in the delivery room to see the birth of his child. Why wouldn’t he have that right? You can’t just say, ‘men have no right…’
Martha also seems to be resigned that abstinence is impossible for youths and parents are fools to think premarital sex couldn’t happen to their children. I wholeheartedly disagree with this sentiment. We don’t shift our morals to fit with what is bound to happen, we call back behavior to align with moral boundaries.
Shouldn’t the happenings in this book alone be enough to realize that God’s design for sex and marriage is so much better for all parties? Sexual freedom isn’t actually freedom.
Sorry but ‘everybody is doing it’ is not a convincing argument for me to let go of God’s command for purity and ‘accept’ that all my children will be having premarital sex. And I don’t think that makes me a fool.
And even though men are idiots who can’t even make smoke rings like the female hired help, I do see how Martha interacts with her husband and I see how Martha cares for other women who have found themselves as vulnerable social outcasts, and I think I really like Martha.
The scene where her husband cares for her, helping her bathe and brush her hair, is such a beautiful, tender moment that restores your hope for loving marriages. Their marriage is so good and balanced and you just know that they are doing life as a team.
The fact that Martha makes a quilt every year to give to a woman who will be denied a wedding shower because of their shot-gun marriage is so thoughtful and generous.
She recognizes the vulnerable and she goes to them to help with no expectation of anything in return.
She is strong and resilient, having faced much pain and hardship. She clings to what is good and has a husband who helps her find the good and joyful moments.
I think the chapter that talked about the death of three of her children was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever read. But even in the face of great loss, she still shows up for her family.
Martha Ballard is the solid cornerstone of this book.
One last thing I really liked about this book was how Ariel centered it around the opening and closing of the Kennebec river— right when it is freezing and progressing until its thawing. I thought that was a really good symbolism with the flow of the book. The river is closing up when they find the dead body, and the re-opening of the river is the sign of spring and new life, new beginnings. The ice is broken up. There is movement. The washing away of what happened that winter.
She also bookends The Frozen River with stories of birth. And that is a good way to encapsulate this book about the vulnerability and resilience of life.
Recommendation
There is a lot to admire about Martha Ballard and I’m glad Ariel Lawhon found her and brought her to life for us.
There are parts of this book that will be hard to read for probably everyone, but some may find it to be too much and may not want to immerse themselves in a story with tragedy like this one.
For everyone else, I would highly recommend this book where time past reminds us of what we can be thankful for today and hopeful for tomorrow. A book that highlights the beauty and wonder of childbirth and the resilience of women in the face of hardship.
[Content Advisory: no swearing; the main plot revolves around a rape which is talked about quite a bit and described in different ways; a second attempted rape occurs as well and could be hard to read for a lot of people]
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