Martha Ballard is a midwife in Hallowell, in what was then the District of Maine. As a highly regarded healer, Martha is asked to examine the body pulled out of the river and determine cause of death.

The year is 1789, and a New England midwife is called to investigate a dead man pulled from the ice. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Ariel Lawhon about her novel, "The Frozen River." ...

When Martha, the town's midwife and healer, is summoned to examine a body pulled from the water one bitterly cold morning in November 1789, she finds a bruised and battered man who clearly didn't ...

Inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning diaries of Martha Ballard, Lawhon’s new book tells the tale of the renowned 18th century midwife and healer who finds herself at the center of a shocking ...

Martha Ballard was a real midwife in the late 1700s who delivered more than 1,000 babies without ever losing a mother. Ballard kept a diary of her life and the town secrets she learned thanks to ...

The year is 1789, and a New England midwife is called to investigate a dead man pulled from the ice. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Ariel Lawhon about her novel, "The Frozen River." ...

In Ariel Lawhon’s “The Frozen River,” narrator Martha Ballard reveals how a person would navigate the river that flows through Hallowell, Maine, in the late 18th century: “T… ...

The year is 1789, and a New England midwife is called to investigate a dead man pulled from the ice. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Ariel Lawhon about her novel, "The Frozen River." ...