The Frozen River

By: Ariel Lawhon

I am so glad to have been introduced to the remarkable life of Martha Ballard. She was trusted to deliver mothers and babies safely through childbirth time and time again, but not allowed to offer witness testimony in criminal court without her husband present! This story is one of unwavering, moral character among a system in which justice is really served. We've come a long way… with such a long way to go!

“Like all mothers, I have long since master the art of nursing joy at one breast and grief at the other.” p30

“I am never guaranteed the certainty of quiet, much less a solid length of time to chase my thoughts and bind them together.” p51

“I swallow a sigh. I will never understand why men think that women work so hard to destroy them. In my experience it is usually the opposite” p142

“One of the greatest skills that I have as a midwife is to sit in silence. I cannot count the number of times that I have a wordlessly held a hand as grief explodes in a room” p233

“The moon is bright, and the clouds are wispy and low, making the sky look like an oyster shell, striated with shades of gray.” p302

“This is the part no one talks about anymore. Not in civilized company at least. When a war is over, you stop discussing the cost. The reality. The blood soaked soil or the grave markers or the collateral damage. The way we kill our enemies in order to claim victory.” p305

“They both have the rangy look of boys who are no longer little, but who won't be men for sometime yet. All teeth and elbows and knees, they need haircuts and baths. They are in that grubby, delightful no man's land between those who play and those who work.” p356