The Frozen River

Yes, in large part. The novel draws on the real diary of Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife in Hallowell, Maine, whose journal documented decades of births, deaths, and community life. Author Ariel Lawhon builds a murder mystery around real entries and real people from that diary, blending documented history with invented dialogue and plot details.

Set in Hallowell, Maine in 1789, the novel follows midwife Martha Ballard after the body of Joshua Burgess is found in the frozen Kennebec River. Burgess had been accused, along with Judge Joseph North, of assaulting Rebecca Foster, a preacher's wife. When a local physician rules the death an accident, Martha uses her own diary and standing in the community to pursue the truth, even as it threatens to implicate people she loves.