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Title details for The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - Available

The Frozen River

by Ariel Lawhon
Jane Oppenheimer
Audiobook
103 of 107 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
103 of 107 copies available
From the author of Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who investigates a shocking murder that unhinges her small community. Now a New York Times bestseller with a million copies sold!

'A most uncozy mystery that addresses the unbalanced power dynamics of men and women, rich and poor' NPR (an NPR Book of the Year)
Maine, 1789: When a man is found entombed in the frozen Kennebec River, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death.
As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth, death and debacle that unfolds in the town of Hallowell. In that diary she has also documented the details of an alleged rape committed by one of the town's most esteemed gentlemen – the same man who has now been found dead in the ice.
While certain townspeople are eager to put both matters to rest, Martha suspects that the two crimes are linked, and that there is more to both cases than meets the eye. Over the course of one long, hard winter, whispers and prejudices mount, and Martha's diary lands at the centre of the scandal, threatening to tear both her family and her community apart.
The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense and tender story of an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice on behalf of those no one else would protect.
'Extraordinary' Natasha Lester
'Brilliantly atmospheric' Hannah Richell
'Fans of Outlander's Claire Fraser will enjoy Lawhon's Martha'Washington Post

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 23, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781761423437
      • File size: 434813 KB
      • Duration: 15:05:51

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 18, 2023
      Lawhon (Code Name Hélène) draws from the diary of an 18th-century midwife for the stirring story of one woman’s quest for justice. In 1789 Maine, 54-year-old midwife Martha Ballard is asked to help determine the cause of death for Joshua Burgess, an accused rapist whose body was found frozen in the river. Martha is convinced that Burgess was beaten and hanged before he was thrown into the water. Several months earlier, she treated a woman named Rebecca Foster for injuries sustained from rape, and Rebecca told her the assailants were Burgess and Joseph North, a judge. After a court determines there’s not enough evidence against North for a rape charge, despite Martha’s testimony about Rebecca’s injuries, a trial is arranged on different charges, but North disappears. Martha attempts to prove Burgess was murdered, hoping to bring scrutiny to North as a suspect in the killing, whose motive may have been to keep Burgess from testifying against him about the rape. Lawhon combines modern prose with the immediacy of her source material, making for an accessible and textured narrative. This accomplished historical powerfully speaks to centuries-old inequities that remain in the present day. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, The Book Group.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Listeners will be launched back to the eighteenth century by this audiobook, inspired by the diary of the American midwife and healer Martha Ballard. The story weaves Ballard's journal through Lawhon's thrilling mystery of rape and murder. Jane Oppenheimer gives life to this first-person account, which includes birth, death, rape, and family, as well as the challenges of life in early America. Oppenheimer handles Martha's voice smoothly and uses tone and cadence to expertly deliver the dialogue of the other characters in the story. Complex, twisting, with flashbacks and diary entries, this clever novel is handled beautifully by Oppenheimer. Imagine "Call the Midwife" meets Maisie Dobbs, and sit back and enjoy the ride. C.F. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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