Home » Historical Fiction (Page 2)
Category Archives: Historical Fiction
When the Waters Came–flood, fire, and disease
When the Waters Came
by Candice Sue Patterson
Often, works of historical fiction focus on a famous character, a war, or a period in history. This book has as its subject the Johnstown, PA, flood of 1889 which resulted in two thousand deaths. Add to that the destruction of most structures, thousands of animals, and deep mud everywhere. Families were torn apart, and basic services of electricity and water disappeared. Transportation came to a standstill. The stench of decomposition was overwhelming, and typhoid fever was a concern resulting from the unclean water. The government sent in resources, and Clara Barton brought medical help along with her organizational aid in arranging temporary housing and providing food.
The early part of the story focuses on Monty, a likable, handsome pastor with a secret in his background. He loses everything in the flood as most people do. Annamae is a Red Cross nurse in Washington, D.C., who travels to Pennsylvania to help in the tragedy. She had a very difficult childhood, and following the death of her father in a factory accident she is left to her own resources. She manages to become a nurse and because of her skills attracts the attention of Clara Barton. Monty and Annamae’s paths cross, and they gradually reveal their interest in each other.
Annamae and Monty both have lessons to learn about forgiveness. Annamae has a deep-felt need for revenge, and has to come to grips with acknowledging a trust in God and His justice in dealing with wrongs. While I felt for the people who lost all in this flood and were terrorized by the powerful waters, I never really connected with the protagonists. I did learn a lot about the devastation of floods and this one in particular. The descriptions of the natural occurrences and their aftermath are powerful.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance
Notes: 1. #1 in the six book series A Day to Remember featuring disasters in American history written by six different authors.
2. The author includes details explaining which parts of her work were taken from actual sources and which are fictionalized.
Publication: January 1, 2024—Barbour
Memorable Lines:
He looked in the direction the man had come from, and fear pierced his heart. Black mist rolled into the air. Then Monty saw a wall of water as tall as any building, devouring everything in its path. The dam had broken.
This had been no judgment day or act of God. Not in the biblical sense. The truth was that this had happened from the selfishness and indifference of the industrial kings who ran the country and spent summers recreating at the top of the mountain. But proving it would be no easy task.
“Here we are, a hundred and thirteen years after the revolution, ruled by a different tyrant. The tyrant of greed and monopoly, where payment for backbreaking work is given in company scrip that can only be used at the company stores where prices are higher than anywhere else. After years of sacrificing health and family, the reward is death.”
The Four Winds–Historical Fiction about The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl
The Four Winds
By Kristin Hannah
From prosperity to devastating poverty, The Four Winds takes the reader on a journey across time and across the United States. Since childhood, Elsa has been told she is unattractive, physically weakened by an illness, and ineligible for marriage. Her brief search for adventure and love in her small town leads her to Italian immigrants Tony and Rose and their son Rafe. The Martinellis take Elsa under their wing, connect her to the land, and love her as their own.
The Great Depression rips away the hopes and dreams of the generations who endured the struggle, but Tony and Rose are strong and refuse to give up their land. Then come years and years of drought and dust storms. The government says the farmers are to blame and provides minimal help. Millions of citizens leave Texas and surrounding states to find what is billed as a “land of milk and honey” where they will surely find work so they can support their families. Instead they find difficult work on large farms if they are lucky. They live in filthy conditions on subsistence wages or less. Each day they have to walk miles both ways from muddy tent cities to the fields where there is no guarantee of a job. Those seeking work are maligned by the residents who view them as dirty and lazy. If they manage to get on at a farm that supplies housing, a few toilets, and some running water and electricity, they soon discover that they are paid with credit at the expensive company store. There is a fee for everything, even obtaining pay in cash. When they dig deeper, the workers find that the whole setup, including where they live and when they work is completely set up to satisfy the greed of the owner. A worker is always indebted to the company.
Communists, at physical danger to themselves, work to organize the farm workers to strike for better working conditions. It is an uphill battle because the workers have safety concerns if they protest in addition to the possibility of losing their opportunity for work—such as it is. California is not the “Promised Land” after all.
Elsa is not just the main character of The Four Winds: she is the heroine. She is a strong, strong woman living out a difficult life with perseverance and determination. Come what may, she would do her best for her children whether eking out survival in a formerly rich land where cattle died with bellies full of sand or traveling across the desert in an unreliable vehicle praying that there was enough water and gas to get the family to their destination. She proves to be a good friend to others in need. She compromises when necessary for the sake of her children, but she reaches a limit where she stands up to greedy business people who deserve to be shamed.
The Four Winds exposes a sad part of our history showing a period in time that was devastating to people. Through no fault of their own they found themselves unable to care for their families. Many were proud and refused government aid. Some of that help from the government was commendable putting men to work in respectable jobs, but some was too little, too late and unreliable in execution. The people of California were depicted as mean-spirited and unwilling to help those who needed help. They looked down on the laborers with contempt. The one exception that stood out for me was an understanding librarian who checked out books to Elsa’s daughter and then gave Elsa a library card which Elsa presented to her daughter as her Christmas gift. It was treasured.
This work of historical fiction concludes nicely, but there is not a happy ending for everyone. The book is more realistic than that. Overall it is well written and kept me wanting to read more. It is a sad book, however. It has to be—it is about sad times.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Publication: March 14, 2023—St. Martin’s Griffin
Memorable Lines:
“Believe me, Elsa, this little girl will love you as no one ever has…and make you crazy and try your soul. Often all at the same time.” In Rose’s dark, tear-brightened eyes. Elsa saw a perfect reflection of her own emotions and a soul-deep understanding of this bond—motherhood—shared by women for millennia.
“Girls like that, unkind girls who think it’s funny to laugh at another’s misfortune, are nothing. Specks on fleas on a dog’s butt.”
Once, Elsa would have said, God will provide, and she would have believed it, but her faith had hit the same hard times that had struck the country. Now, the only help women had was each other. “I’ll be here for you,” Elsa said, then added, “Maybe that’s how God provides. He put me in your path and you in mine.”
Winter hit the San Joaquin Valley hard, a frightening combination of bad weather and no work. Day after day, rain fell from steel-wool-colored skies, fat drops clattering on the automobiles and tin-can shacks and tents clustered along the ditch bank. Puddles of mud formed and wandered, became trenches. Brown splatter marks discolored everything.
Poverty was a soul-crushing thing. A cave that tightened around you, its pinprick of light closing a little more at the end of each desperate, unchanged day.
Mrs. Mike–survival in the Canadian wilderness
Mrs. Mike
by Benedict and Nancy Freedman
When sixteen year old Katherine Mary (Kathy) O’Fallon leaves Boston in the early 1900’s to travel to Calgary, Alberta, she begins the adventure of a lifetime. She lives briefly with her uncle hoping to improve her health, but she falls in love with Mike Flannigan, a sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police. He is kind, courageous, and handsome. They marry and live in the wilderness of “the North” in very difficult and dangerous conditions—overwhelmingly cold in the winter and slushy wet in the summer with mosquitoes bent on driving them crazy.
From both Mike and the natives, Kathy learns hard lessons about survival in the wilderness. It is a time and place when women undergo difficult pregnancies and childbirths without medical intervention. Families are wiped out by plagues, fire, and hunger. Although Kathy was treated well, that was not the case for many women. Their status was low, especially if they were native or half-breeds. Their languages and customs were different from her own, but she cultivated friendships based on common suffering and aid.
Mrs. Mike is historical fiction, but it is based on the life of Katherine Mary Flannigan. Full of adventure, history, and romance, Mrs. Mike is well written with great descriptions of the hardships of travel and the beauty of the northern wilderness. The reader experiences the tragedies of life and death along with people who endure the cold and scarcity of necessities, but have the moral fortitude to share and help their neighbors.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Publication: 1947—Berkley Books
Memorable Lines:
These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life.
I couldn’t stand so many people so close to me. I was overpowered by the noise, the perfume, the decorations, and by the glare of the electric lights. After the soft glow of candles, everything seemed harsh and artificially bright.
The heart is a resilient thing, capable of enduring great pain and still finding joy.
Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
with A Guide to Reading and Reflecting by Karen Swallow Prior
What do you think of when you hear the word “Frankenstein?” For many, that name conjures up an ugly monster pieced together from the flesh of others. A quick Internet search of images associated with that name bring up iconic pictures that are a part of our popular culture. Many movies have been made of the book Frankenstein as well as versions and spin-offs of the Gothic novel. In truth, Victor Frankenstein is the name of the scientist who created the monster who was never named in the book, but may be referred to as “The Creature.”
Clearly a classic, Frankenstein, was the creation of 18 year old Mary Shelley as a result of a dreary day’s writing contest with a small group of men, that included her husband the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. The little group fought to overcome the ennui of the season. Mary Shelley won and her story was first published anonymously.
The structure of the story is initially a little confusing, but it becomes clearer as the tale progresses. Captain Robert Walton’s narrative frames the story with his recounting, as his ship headed to the North Pole, of the sighting of an unknown creature and then the rescue of a man who was pursuing the creature. Much of the book is epistolary as Walton shares the story of Victor Frankenstein’s life with his sister in England.
The reader is also given the Creature’s viewpoint. At eight feet tall and very different looking, he is viewed as a threat. At times the reader might feel some sympathy for him as he wants love and acceptance, but he also reveals a murderous side. When he realizes he will never be integrated into human society, he approaches Victor with the idea of creating a woman to be his wife. This request ignites another ethical dilemma for Victor who has already ignored his moral obligations when he gave life to the Creature and then abandoned him. His bad decisions turn his life and that of his loved ones into tragedies.
The editor of this volume, Karen Swallow Prior, is a Professor of English and Christianity and Culture. She states that the major themes of Frankenstein are “creation, creator, guilt, ambition, reason vs. emotion, nature vs. nurture, friendship, sexuality.” She points out that Shelley does not write from a biblical point of view, but that these themes are timeless. This is obviously a complicated book and important in terms of its effects on our culture. The editor Prior attempts to make it more accessible in her introduction and in the background she presents about the time in which it was written. Not an easy read, Frankenstein offers a lot of food for thought. The reader will probably argue with the characters over their motivations and actions and will be hard pressed to find a likable character among them. Victor Frankenstein, in particular, proves over and over again that he is self-centered. His own happiness and a fulfilled ego are so important to him that his emotions swing wildly and greatly affect his health while he disregards how his actions hurt others.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Gothic, Classic, Christian
Notes: 1. The editor ends each section (volume) with Reflection Questions which are a wonderful resource for individuals or groups studying Frankenstein. She also includes Questions for Further Reflection which address the whole book.
2. The appendix adds the introduction to the 1831 edition.
3. Prior has helpful footnotes on the appropriate pages to define words that are unfamiliar to readers in the twenty-first century.
4.Frankenstein is subtitled The Modern Prometheus pointing to the tension between a creation and its creator.
5. Although Frankenstein is not a Christian novel, Prior’s goal is to show readers how to approach it from a Christian viewpoint and to the glory of God
6. Prior has a series of classics that she has edited in a similar way. I have read several of these with my Book Club. Some have been more enjoyable than others, but all have resulted in good discussions.
7. This was written during the transitional period from Enlightenment to Romanticism.
Publication: 1818—Original publication
2021—(as edited by Prior) B&H Publishing
Memorable Lines:
I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixier of life. But the latter obtained my most undivided attention: wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery. If I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!
I was benevolent and good: misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I shall again be virtuous.
“Hateful day when I received life!’’ I exclaimed in agony. ‘’Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.”
Sisters Under the Rising Sun–cruelty and bravery
Sisters Under the Rising Sun
by Heather Morris
There are so many books that vividly describe the horrors of concentration camps in Europe during World War II, and Heather Morris has written several of these. In Sisters Under the Rising Sun, a work of historical fiction, Morris takes readers to the other side of the world to examine the equally dreadful treatment of civilians and Australian Army nurses in Japanese prisoner of war camps in World War II. Any sense of humanity went out the door on the part of the Japanese captors as their captives struggled to stay alive for almost 4 years with very little food, no medical supplies, unsanitary living conditions, and brutal treatment. There were many deaths, but also many examples of prisoners who survived by faith, loving and supporting each other with survival and hoping for a reunion with loved ones.
One prisoner has an extensive musical background and a lot of talent. She organizes a “voice orchestra” with women’s voices taking the parts of various musical instruments producing classical pieces to the amazement of all and with enthusiastic members. She refuses, however, the request of the camp captain to play a Japanese song, and she is harshly punished.
The groups are moved from camp to camp, each time having to restore the camp into a semi-livable place. They are given only a few inadequate tools for their work (e.g. two machetes to dig graves). Depending on the circumstances, they have to carry water quite a distance or dig wells with coconut shells or their hands. With very little to eat, they have very little energy for the work and weak immune systems. Vermin and rodents are a problem all the time. When the monsoons arrive, they have to repair their roofs with leaves. The heat is unbearable, and thirst is a common companion.
The book begins with a focus on two different groups. One is the brave and dedicated nurses who are addressed as “sisters.” The other is a family group consisting of two biological sisters and their husbands. It took me a little while to get into the story because initially the plot did not have a strong focus and kept going back and forth. Then the characters were united in one storyline which helped a lot. By the end of the story, I was smiling and crying at the resolutions for the various characters. They had become real to me.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: 1. As I began Sisters Under the Rising Sun, I pegged this book as worthy of 4/5 stars. By the end, my heart had gone out to the characters. Any book that can do that to me is worthy of 5/5 stars.
2. There is an epilogue that ties up what happened to the major characters when families are reunited. Ena and her sister Norah were prisoners together throughout the whole imprisonment period of almost 4 years but they had no idea what had happened to their loved ones. Especially important are June, a child who got separated from her parents and swept up in the arrests. She was cared for by Ena. Norah’s daughter Sally left Singapore under precarious conditions before everything fell apart.
3. The book ends with notes about what happened to the historical characters that the fictional ones are based on.
Publication: October 24, 2023—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
“Be my life short or long, I’ll remember this moment forever. How in the worst possible circumstances two women, who I love more than life itself, found a way to laugh and make me laugh. Thank you, my darlings.’
“No, Sister, we’re not going anywhere. Can’t you see there are people here who need us? Yes, they have probably killed the men, but all our training and everything we stand for means we do not abandon those who need our help. I want you all to remember that where there is life there is hope.”
“I served in the Great War and I’ve been fighting in this one for two years. I thought I had seen and heard the worst of humanity. But today, just now, you have shown me that human brutality knows no bounds. What happened on that beach will not be forgotten. I’ll find a way to make it known and all I ask of you is that you say nothing to another living soul until you are safely back at home.”
A Christmas Gift–sacrificing during hard times
A Christmas Gift
by Glendon Swarthout
illustrated by Myles Sprinzen
The story of this novella is told from the viewpoint of James Chubb, a thirteen year old boy who is sent from his home in Pennsylvania to his grandparents’ farm in Michigan. In the Great Depression, James’ father can not find work, any kind of work, to support his family. Like many other children in that generation, James was shipped off to live with relatives he had only visited twice. His grandparents were nice, however, and James worked hard for them.
A Christmas Gift covers several generations with a special focus on James’ great-grandfather who died in the Civil War. The reader sees the effect of war on multiple generations and the impact of the Great Depression on hard-working men who feel the shame of not being able to put food on the table. Many of those people would not accept government handouts, which even if accepted were still not enough for survival.
It was certainly not a good year for Christmas gifts. Some children received one practical gift like galoshes or a handmade gift such as a scarf. Many, of course, did not get anything for Christmas. In this story we see an abundance of love in a sacrificial gift.
Swarthout describes in detail the melodeon and the OilPull tractor that play key roles in the plot. He writes about the events of this story in such a way that you feel like you are there witnessing the difficult birth of an out of season lamb and the exhaustion of his grandfather during an evening like no other. He inserts some amusement in the participation of a family of daughters and some wonder in a magical Christmas Eve rescue.
Swarthout is an award winning writer, and his expertise shows in A Christmas Gift as he takes the reader on a journey back in time and into a rural farm setting. There are terms that the modern reader will find unfamiliar as James uses slang from the day. One funny touch is the inclusion of the use of a “party line” on their telephone service.
The trip skillfully manipulates emotions so that the reader feels close to this thirteen year old. Although it is not light-hearted,there is joy and also melancholy to be found in the tale. It is a story that in many ways defies typical genre classification. It is a good read, but each reader needs to decide if it achieves the classic status some feel it deserves.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Historical Fiction, Novella
Notes: 1. This book has also been published under the name The Melodeon (Doubleday, 1977) and has been made into a movie with the title A Christmas To Remember (1978).
2. YouTube has some great videos that will help the author’s wonderful descriptions of the melodeon and the Rumely Oil Pull tractor come alive.
Publication: 1992—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
Ella kept two hundred chickens. “Good layers,” she called them — a characteristically rural understatement. Those Leghorns of hers were cornucopias, mother-lodes, veritable volcanoes of eggs.
Our ring was three long and one short, and after five minutes I decided some of the garrulous wives in the neighborhood must be on the line, so I lifted the receiver and listened in. Universal sin absolves individuals, and since everyone did it in those days, listening in on a party line was not considered sinful.
“You have to take the vinegar with the honey. That’s marriage for you.”
Waiting for Christmas–my new favorite Christmas story
Waiting for Christmas
by Lynn Austin
If you are searching for a Christmas story with depth and that calls the characters to examine the true meaning of Christmas, Waiting for Christmas is everything you could want in a Christmas story. I can imagine reading this every year as a new Christmas tradition.
As a novella, it fits well into this busy season, but contains all of the feeling that can be packed into a Christmas story. Addy, raised in wealth and comfort in 1901, gives up that life for the love of Howard, a young lawyer, the son of a preacher, who wants to support Addy without her having to spend any of her inheritance. Addy is active in the suffrage movement to help lift women out of poverty. This couple’s lives are turned upside down when she brings Jack, a runaway orphan, out of the bushes and into her home before he freezes to death. He is adamant that he is not an orphan because his father has promised to return home on Christmas. Meanwhile, he is desperate to find his little sister, often termed by others as an incoherent idiot. They were separated when their mother passed away. In the thousands of orphans in New York City, will Addy, Howard, and Jack be able to find little Polly? How will the children’s father know where to find them as their tenement house apartment has been rented to a poor Russian family?
My eyes filled with tears several times as I read this sweet, but powerful story. I highly recommend it for a great plot and wonderful characters. It brings Jesus’ teachings to light as the characters find ways to live out His example of acting with love towards others, even the unlovely. Addy finds ways to interact with various social groups in meaningful ways. If you want to be more like Jesus, then read Waiting for Christmas to see how the characters in this book respond to the challenges of helping others.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction, Romance, Christian
Notes: Novella
Publication: September 3, 2024—Tyndale House Publishers
Memorable Lines:
He and Addy had experienced both extremes today, from ramshackle tenement to rambling mansion, and he marveled that both were in the same city, on the same 23-square-mile island. In between the extremes were his parents’ modest home and the simple town house he shared with Addy. The entire main floor of their town house could fit inside this echoing foyer, yet Howard felt blessed.
Vulnerable human beings of all ages and disabilities, society’s most helpless people, were being forced to live in appalling conditions simply because they were poor and disabled.
“I’ve prayed some pretty big prayers over the years that seemed to go unanswered. And if I wasn’t careful, I could start to believe that God didn’t love me because He didn’t give me what I’d asked for. I had to learn that my faith shouldn’t depend on whether or not God answers my prayers exactly the way I want Him to.”
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates–historical look at Holland
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates
by Mary Mapes Dodge
illustrated by Edna Cooke
This children’s novel depicts life in Holland in the early 19th century and according to the author “aims to combine the instructive features of a book of travels with the interest of a domestic tale.” Dodge has done of lot of research so much of the book focuses on Dutch history and customs. Although Hans Brinker is the protagonist, he is not even a character in a large part of the book that describes a skating trip a small group of boys undertake traveling on frozen canals and rivers to various cities.
Hans and his family live in deep poverty because the father Raff had a work accident ten years prior that affected his brain. His wife also can not work because she has to stay home to look after her unpredictable husband. Hans and his sister Gretel are not always treated well because of their social standing. The author states that the circumstances of Raff’s situation were true.
Hans and Gretel have only inefficient wooden skates that Hans carved for them, but both are good skaters. Surprisingly, not much of the story deals with the race for silver skates. Hans is an honorable young man as is shown many times in the story.
The fictional part of Hans Brinker is interesting, even exciting, but the historical portions are less interesting. The boys visit museums on their trip and the history bounces from one item to another just as it would if you were visiting a museum. There are a lot of events referenced that students today do not have the historical background for (e.g. Prince William of Orange who freed Holland from Spain and became King of England). For further personal education on Dutch history or if working with homeschool students, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates could be a valuable resource. Unless I were teaching a unit on Holland in a classroom, I doubt I would read this to or with Middle Grade students. I found the Preface to be a valuable introduction to what was to follow. I also liked the satisfying Conclusion which shared what happened to the characters as life moved on for them.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Children’s fiction, Historical fiction
Notes: 1. Intended for children 8-12 years old
2. I found this to be a slow read, but there were others in my book club who found the historical references very interesting.
Publication: 1865—George W. Jacobs & Co.
I obtained my copy from Gutenberg Press.
Memorable Lines:
“…the father and I saved and saved that we might have something laid by. ‘Little and often soon fills the pouch.’ ”
“We cannot say what we might have become under other circumstances. We have been bolstered up from evil, since the hour we were born. A happy home and good parents might have made that man a fine fellow instead of what he is. God grant that the law may cure and not crush him!”
Ten years dropped from a man’s life are no small loss; ten years of manhood, of household happiness and care; ten years of honest labor, of conscious enjoyment of sunshine and outdoor beauty, ten years of grateful life—One day looking forward to all this; the next, waking to find them passed, and a blank. What wonder the scalding tears dropped one by one upon your cheek!
The Keeper of Hidden Books–importance of books
The Keeper of Hidden Books
by Madeline Martin
This book is perfect for:
—lovers of books, reading, and libraries
—those who think reading is important for continuity of culture
—people who value ideas
—readers who like the notion of discussion in book clubs
—history buffs
—those interested in Poland—culture, history, role in WWII, underground resistance
—Girl Guides and Boy Scouts
—people who want to know more about the horrific treatment by the Nazis of Jews and Poles.
The Keeper of Hidden Books starts gently with Girl Guides preparing their skills for a war they assumed would never happen. Poland had lost its freedom before, and the Poles were determined it would not happen again. We gradually learn about the lives and values of several of the girls and their families. We witness the responses of the Polish citizens—both heroic and traitorous. As the story progresses we watch the destruction by the Nazis of libraries and books and the valiant efforts of librarians and volunteers who resist this extinction of knowledge. We also observe the desire of people of all ages to maintain access to books that provide escapism during times of hunger, persecution and despair.
This is a good book for me because I treasure books as many of the characters in the novel do. It is a warning to all of us to guard our freedoms, especially the freedom of speech which includes the written word. Hitler worked hard to maintain his power through censorship; we must not let history repeat itself.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: The author concludes with notes about her research into the history behind her story, a tale which is based on real events and people in Warsaw. Buried in her discussion of the destruction of books by the Hitler Youth is the statement “But the power of books still endured.” That is a distillation of the theme of this book.
Publication: August 1, 2023—Hanover Square Press (Harlequin)
Memorable Lines:
Now the world crumbled in on itself, burning away the beauty of Warsaw, and there was no more time for reading than there was food to eat.
More and more children were appearing at the library as time went on. Many of them were desperate for distraction, to read about faraway places they could not go, or to transport themselves to mythical lands that could still tease at their dulled imaginations. They wanted stories where villains were vanquished. But books were more than a means of escape for these children; they offered another life to live. They offered hope.
…why Hitler so feared the books he banned. There was power in literature. Brilliant and undeniable. Books inspired free thought and empathy, an overall understanding and acceptance of everyone.
The Frozen River–Remarkable midwife
The Frozen River
by Ariel Lawhon
Martha Ballard is a historical figure, a midwife who also had other medical skills. She is an unusual figure for her time—literate (a rarity) and a wife and the mother of a large brood who traveled the area quite independently to deliver babies. In Ephraim, she had a strong, trusting, industrious, and helpful husband. He was a man of faith. He saw his wife’s potential and taught her how to read. He also helped her overcome trauma she had suffered as a young lady.
The setting of The Frozen River is the winter of 1789-1790 (actually 1785 in historical records) and was known as “the year of the long winter” in Hallowell, Maine. Martha is called to document a body found in the river, caught by ice. Thus begins a murder mystery that is so much more. A pastor’s young wife is the victim of multiple violent rapes. In the process of disclosing the truth of the events, the author also reveals much about women’s rights at that time. In summary, they had few. To even give testimony in court a woman had to be accompanied by a husband or father. It was clear that a man’s testimony had greater weight than a woman’s. Premarital sex was fairly common, but if a pregnancy was the result, the woman could be jailed or fined. The man incurred no consequences.
Pre-Bill of Rights, the court system was very different than what we have in America today. It was similar to what is commonly referred to as “frontier justice.” Townsfolk flocked to a local trial where the jury was composed solely of men and the judge was likely to be biased. There were other levels of courts depending on the accusations and the findings of a lower court. In some cases it was clear that justice would not be done, and so men would take action on their own following the dictum of “an eye for an eye.”
Death from natural causes, sickness, childbirth, or accidents was something the people of that time had to live with. Although expected, accepting it was still very difficult, especially for mothers. Life was not easy, and circumstances often left people bereft of material needs and emotional support.
The author, Ariel Lawhon, makes the characters come alive. Without being melodramatic, she presents the characters as real people with flaws and strengths, individuals that the reader will really like despite some weaknesses or truly detest because of the evilness they harbor in their hearts. There were many secrets to be revealed, but those were skillfully hidden until the author chose to disclose them. Even then, the motivation for the matter might remain unknown for a time. Because of the rapes and other types of violence found in the book, it is a hard book to read and certainly not a book to read right before bedtime. It is a page turner that is not for the faint of heart, but reveals so much about a remarkable woman and a time of history that required much of people.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction
Notes: 1. The Author’s Notes at the end delve into the historical accuracy of the book and the author’s resources. She estimates that about 75% of the book “closely follows the historical record.” The rest is “what could have happened.” As all works of historical fiction, the author had to flesh out events and characters to create a story of interest that flows.
2. I do recommend this book, but I would be remiss if I did not include a warning of violence and rape for any potential readers for whom those topics are triggers. There is also some swearing.
3. This book is excellent for book club discussion. Our group engaged in topics that covered the many themes found in the book extending past the regulars of characters and setting to symbolism of a silver fox and the all important river.
Publication: 2023—Doubleday
Memorable Lines:
Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. but paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without partiality. That, I believe, is why so few women are taught to read and write. God only knows what they would do with the power of pen and ink at their disposal.
The act of mothering is not limited to the bearing of children. This is another thing that I have learned in all my long years of midwifery. Labor may render every woman a novice, but pregnancy renders every woman a child. Scared. Vulnerable. Ill. Exhausted. Frail. A pregnant woman is, in most ways, a helpless woman. Her emotions are erratic. Her body betrays her.
“No baby is conceived apart from the will of God, May. If you are pregnant, it means that you have been touched by Providence, and you will never hear me say an ill word about the child you carry. Nor will I let anyone do so in my presence.”
This is a new thing I’ve discovered about myself in recent years. The noises. Stand and groan. Sit and grunt. Some days it seems that I can hardly take a step without some part of my body creaking or cracking and this—even more than the gray hairs and the crow’s-feet at my eyes—makes me feel as though I am racing down the final stretch of middle age.
education pathways 