Happy Sunday! Our contemporary author choice for the month of April is Ariel Lawhon. Last year, I read The Frozen River and couldn't put it down.
“A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon's newest offering introduced an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The story was a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.”
I have since added Code Name Helene to my stacks which am taking with me on the plane to read while visiting my father again. I thoroughly enjoy World War II historical fiction especially when it involves women spies. Kristen Hannah's The Nightingale enthralled and kept me reading long into the night. Hopefully this one will be equally mesmerizing.
Be sure to check out Ariel Lawhon's other books!
