Historical Fiction · Free kit
The Frozen River
In the brutal winter of 1789, the Kennebec River freezes solid, entombing a man in the ice. Midwife Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. She identifies Joshua Burgess—one of two men accused of raping a pastor's wife four months earlier. When Martha declares the death a murder, not an accident, she sets herself against powerful men who want the truth buried. Over one long, unforgiving Maine winter, Martha's diary becomes evidence in a rape trial, her family is torn apart by secrets, and she must decide what justice looks like when the law fails women. Based on the real-life diary of an 18th-century midwife who delivered over 1,000 babies without losing a mother, The Frozen River is a gripping historical mystery about a woman who refused to stay silent.
“Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. But paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without impartiality.”
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