FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon

A New England midwife in 1789, Martha Ballard is a woman ahead of her time.  A champion of women’s rights, she is a compassionate champion of the many women bearing children who were conceived out of wedlock.  When an evil man, Joshua Burgess, turns up dead in the river, she testifies against Joseph North, who along with Burgess raped the pastor’s wife.  North, however, is a formidable opponent, given his wealth and standing, who wields power through threats and intimidation.  Martha attends to so many women that I found it difficult to keep them all straight, but Martha herself is a force to be reckoned with and is surrounded by a (mostly) supportive family, including her saint of a husband.  She does not suffer fools gladly, especially those who refuse to help themselves.  Some aspects of this novel seemed superfluous, including the existence of a rare silver fox whom Martha views as an omen.  Also, the book occasionally veers into the past and the events surrounding Martha’s marriage, and I rushed through these unnecessary detours, which could have been handled succinctly via Martha’s first-person narration. The pace of the main storyline, however, is brisk, as Martha rushes from one emergency to another.  The murder of Burgess sort of hovers in the background, never totally out of the picture and propelling itself to center stage from time to time.  There are enough evil men here and maligned women to fill two books, but the author failed to tie off one loose end regarding the fate of an unwanted newborn.  Martha, however, is the main attraction here and shows us what a woman with gumption and a strong sense of justice looks like, in any era.