The Frozen River set in Hallowell, Maine

Submitted: 27th June 2025

The Frozen River, Hallowell

This is one fascinating story. A novel inspired by the real life figure of Martha Ballard who was a midwife in the mid west. The novel is set in 1789 when people were flocking to towns and cities to make a living, when it was all about building a homestead if you were a woman or working on the land if you were a man.

Martha’s story is mixed with fiction but is very representative of what life was like at the time.

Map of literary locations in The Frozen River

The Frozen River Ariel Lawhorn

BOARDING PASS INFORMATION

Destination : Hallowell, Maine

Author guide: Ariel Lawhorn

Genre: historical, inspired by real life

Food and drink to accompany: whatever they cook on the homestead

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A novel to transport you to Hallowell, Maine

Map of literary locations in The Frozen River

I do love a novel that goes in the most unexpected of directions. A novel that showcases a world I am not familiar with. A story that is inspired by real life and a real woman.

How have I not heard of Martha Ballard? She was a pioneer and well ahead of her time. The midwife in a small settlement along the river in Maine in 1789 America. She was a brilliant midwife and even though a woman’s domain, she struggled to work at times given the rules of men. They even thought they knew best about women then. Anyway, she carries on providing good care and attention to the women in the area.

What she also did was to keep a diary, a very good diary of all her daily trials. She wrote about anything and everything. What she left behind as a legacy was a keen insight into life in 1700s America and midwifery at the time.

I love books that immerse me not just in a new world but one where fact meets fiction. I get a thrill meeting such women as Martha as I step into the pages. What she did, what she suffered and how she helped those women is admirable.

What makes this book even better is the writing! Lucious and flowing, it was a joy to read such emotional sentences. I feel the author took such care selecting words, building worlds and laying emotions, weather and the scent of the open air on each and every page. I realise that all authors do this, but Ariel seems to magic things with her words. From someone who ‘sees’ novels as she reads, this was a reading experience of the five senses.

A lyrical read and a sad one in many places. Rustic and raw. But what an account of a remarkable woman from history and the footprints she left on the world.