The Frozen River Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Midwifery in Colonial America and our BookBrowse Review of The Frozen River.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Discussion questions from the publisher, supplemented with original content from BookBrowse.

1. How did life in Hallowell in 1789 surprise you? Did the characters act as you expected for the historical period? What revelations were most interesting to you? How does our contemporary notion of the American dream apply to these characters?
2. Throughout the novel, Martha is frequently called to deliver babies from women of all walks of life. Which laboring mother did you feel most connected to? Have you or anyone you know delivered a child with the assistance of a midwife?
3. "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." (p 39) Martha's diary is a critical component of the novel, and a key piece of evidence in Rebecca's trial. Have you ever kept a diary? If not, did reading The Frozen River influence you to start?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Vintage. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.