The Short Version
If you loved The Frozen River, you probably want more strong women, a vivid historical world, and a little bit of mystery. Here are six books to read next, no spoilers.
Hamnet
Number one: Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell, from twenty twenty. It’s the story of Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, a healer who knows plants and people better than anyone, and the son they lose to the plague.
Like Martha Ballard, Agnes is a woman history barely recorded, brought fully to life. If you only pick one, pick this. Bring tissues.
Year Of Wonders
Number two: Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks, from two thousand one. In sixteen sixty six, an English village seals itself off to stop the plague, and a young widow named Anna becomes its healer and midwife.
It’s based on a real village, and it has the same mix of medicine, faith and small town tension.
The Birth House
Number three: The Birth House, by Ami McKay, from two thousand six. In a Nova Scotia village during World War One, Dora Rare learns midwifery from an old Acadian woman, just as a new doctor arrives promising modern, painless births.
If the midwife versus doctor thread was your favorite part of The Frozen River, this is the closest match on the list.
Alias Grace
Number four: Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood, from nineteen ninety six. It’s based on a real double murder in eighteen forty three, and a young servant, Grace Marks, who may or may not have done it.
Like Lawhon, Atwood builds a novel inside the gaps of a real historical record, and she never makes it easy.
Burial Rites
Number five: Burial Rites, by Hannah Kent, from twenty thirteen. In Iceland in eighteen twenty nine, a woman condemned for murder is sent to wait out the winter with a farm family until her execution.
It’s cold, quiet and devastating, and based on a true story. The winter setting will feel very familiar.
A Midwife’s Tale
Number six is not a novel: A Midwife’s Tale, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, from nineteen ninety. It’s the Pulitzer winning history of the real Martha Ballard, built from her diary, month by month.
Lawhon calls it the only full history of Martha’s life. If you finished the novel wanting the real story, this is it.
How To Choose
So, how to choose. For a big emotional read, Hamnet. For plague and a village healer, Year of Wonders. For midwives versus doctors, The Birth House.
For a true crime puzzle, Alias Grace. For a cold, haunting winter, Burial Rites. And for the real Martha Ballard, A Midwife’s Tale.
Your Turn
Which one are you picking up first? Tell me in the comments. My review and ending explained are linked below.
