The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon
70/60 | Started 12.09.24 • Finished 12.27.24 | 5 stars
Book club picked a winner with this one. I was very caught up in the story and loved the characters, but especially the main character, Martha Ballard. I think I was drawn to her as a journaler and record-keeper. The post-Revolutionary-War setting is one that I haven't seen done a lot and I feel like the book captured the rural, small town, tavern-central, gossip-filled life quite well, at least as we have it in our collective imaginations. To me, the storyline felt very plausible and spoke heavily towards the prejudices against women at that time. Trigger warnings abound - several mentions or descriptions of rape - and one gruesome scene towards the end. Despite these survivor-sympathetic depictions, I would recommend!
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