The Frozen River is an outstanding historical mystery by Ariel Lawhon, about Martha Ballard, a midwife in 18th century Maine, when it was still part of Massachusetts. Martha Ballard was a real person, who kept a diary about the births she attended and the daily life of her family, and this novel is inspired by actual events, even though, as Lawhon explains in her fascinating author’s note, much is re-imagined, time is compressed and events are moved around to fit the novel’s timeline. And please do not read the author’s note until you have finished the novel. It contains huge spoilers.
Most of the novel takes place in the long winter (November to April) of 1789-1790, with flashbacks to earlier times. Martha is fifty-four, married for over thirty years to Ephraim Ballard, who runs a lumber mill on the Kennebec River near the town of Hallowell, and mother of nine children, three of whom have died in a diphtheria epidemic. As the novel begins, a dead body is found in the frozen river, and Martha, with her medical knowledge as a midwife, is asked to identify the body and determine the cause of death. She recognizes the man as Joshua Burgess, a prominent member of the community, who, along with Joseph North, a circuit court judge, was accused of raping the pastor’s wife, Rebecca Foster. Martha also realizes Burgess has been murdered by hanging, and she thinks someone has taken justice into their own hands, fearing a court of law would not give Burgess the judgement he deserves.
No sooner does Martha declare the cause of death than a pompous, smug Harvard-educated physician, Benjamin Page, arrives to contradict her opinion and say that the death was an accident. The court, of course, sides with Page, because, to them, Page’s formal medical education outweighs Martha’s years of knowledge gained through experience and self-teaching. Not only that, but the judge presiding at the inquest is none other than Joseph North, the man accused of rape along with Burgess. He, of course, is determined to declare the death an accident so it won’t be investigated.
Page changes his mind about the cause of death, though, when it turns out that Martha’s son Cyrus had fought with Burgess shortly before Burgess’ death. Cyrus is accused of the murder, and, because he is mute, he cannot speak in his own defense, even though he can write down his account of the events. Burgess had tried to force Cyrus’ sister, Hannah, to dance and hurt her when she refused. Cyrus had struck him in his sister’s defense, and then he went home and had nothing to do with the murder. Martha’s friends all believe Cyrus’ version of what happened, but the people in charge, who don’t know Martha and her family very well, or at all, think, because he’s mute, Cyrus is deaf, or not intelligent, when in fact he is neither of these things. To them, he makes an easy scapegoat. Martha is determined to prove her son’s innocence and find who really killed Burgess, as well as proving that the dead man and Judge North really did rape Rebecca Foster.
This was a time when the justice system was very heavily biased against women. The United States was a new country at the time. The Constitution was in place, but the Bill of Rights had not been ratified yet, and the justice system was new. Usually a woman could not testify in court unless her father or husband was present. Martha, as a midwife, is a rare exception, but only in cases of paternity. While attending an unmarried mother in labor, she is required by law to ask the mother for the name of the baby’s father, and testify to it in court. She hates this part of her duties, forcing women in labor to tell her the father’s name when they don’t want to. But in cases of rape and murder, Martha cannot testify unless her husband, Ephraim, is present. When the first hearings in the rape case takes place, Judge North schemes to send Ephraim away on a survey of his land so he won’t be in court when Martha testifies. But, in a dramatic courtroom scene, he manages to arrive at the last minute.
Sadly, though, many people don’t believe Rebecca Foster was really raped, and they characterize her as a loose woman. Rebecca, heavily pregnant as the result of the rape, cannot travel to the court to testify in her own defense, and of course that hurts her cause. It’s basically Judge North’s word vs. that of a woman with very little power, who is despised by most of the community. Only Martha can testify that the rape took place, because Rebecca told her about it and Martha wrote down what she said in her diary, but, even then, Martha was not an eyewitness, so her testimony doesn’t count for much in the court. The only other eyewitness, of course, was Burgess, the dead man, and Martha wonders if Judge North killed him to eliminate him as a witness. Or did Rebecca’s husband kill Burgess for revenge? In spite of having the court system so heavily weighed against her, Martha is determined to find the truth in both the rape and the murder, and see justice done.
Martha is an extraordinary character, even though she herself thinks there’s nothing remarkable about her. She makes a life for herself, with the support of her loving husband, in one of the few professions open to women at the time, and gains some status in the community because of that, but not enough, of course, to make a difference in the misogynistic legal system. The book contains riveting accounts of the births she attends, and she prides herself on the fact that no mother has ever died in childbirth under her care. Some of the babies die, or are stillborn, usually because of the interference of the incompetent Dr. Page.
I love the details Lawhon gives the reader of life in 18th century Maine. You feel chilled to the bone as you read the descriptions of the frozen landscape, and, especially, the river. The Kennebec River is really another character in the novel, as the freeze, and then the violent spring thaw, affects the lives of everyone in the community. This atmosphere is a very important part of the novel. The violent events are contrasted with scenes of Martha’s loving family life with her husband and children. In the flashbacks, we learn that Martha herself was a victim of rape, and we find out how she came to be married to Ephraim, the tragic losses the couple experienced, and their decision to start a new life at the mill on the Kennebec River. Also, Judge North’s threat to take the mill away from them looms heavily over the novel.
This is an incredible novel, and I highly recommend it, as a historical mystery, an exciting courtroom drama, and an account of a woman’s life in the early United States. It is a perfect read for Women’s History Month.
The Frozen River is available from the Hatcher Graduate Library and electronically through OverDrive.