"I cannot say why it is so important that I make this daily record. Perhaps because I have been doing so for years on end? Or maybe – if I am being honest – it is because these markings of ink and paper will one day be the only proof that I have existed in this world. That I lived and breathed."

So run the thoughts of one Martha Moore Ballard after finishing her daily log in the small journal that is her constant companion throughout The Frozen River. Beyond the incredibly important role the diary plays in the novel – several keys to the mysteries that unfold throughout the story are held within its pages – Martha's notebook outlived her, and remains a key source for learning about early American history. Although The Frozen River is a novel, the protagonist is a fictionalized version of the real-life Martha Ballard whose diary informs the Pulitzer Prize-...