61 pages 2 hours read

Ariel Lawhon

The Frozen River

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Part 1

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “A Hanging”

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “What’s Past Is Prologue”

Content Warning: The source text for this guide contains frequent discussions of rape, sexual assault, murder, historical execution practices, pregnancy loss, child loss, and descriptions of racism.

During the winter of 1789, an unidentified dead body floats down the Kennebec River near the town of Hallowell in central Maine. The freezing water traps the body in its place, only feet away from the banks of the river. The dead man’s hair is tied back by a piece of lace, and the omniscient narrator of this Prologue suggests that his decision to carry the lace was a fatal one but doesn’t explain why. A fox carefully walks across the frozen surface of the river, stops to inspect the dead body, sniffs the air, and begins to howl.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Clark Forge”

Martha Ballard, the town midwife of Hallowell, helps Betsy Clark, wife of the blacksmith, Charles, to deliver her new baby. Betsy fears that the baby will be a girl, since her husband is hoping for a boy, and Martha bristles at such gender bias. When the baby arrives, and is indeed a girl, Martha delivers the news to the blacksmith in order to spare Betsy his potential anger.

Related Titles

By Ariel Lawhon

Study Guide

logo

Code Name Hélène

Ariel Lawhon

Code Name Hélène

Ariel Lawhon

Study Guide

logo

When We Had Wings

Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, Susan Meissner

When We Had Wings

Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, Susan Meissner