The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is a solid work of historical fiction that tells the story of midwife and healer Martha Ballard, starting in 1789.

Martha is called when a body is pulled out of the river, that of Joshua Burgess, who months prior committed a rape along with another local, one appointed as a judge, Colonel Joseph North. She had been to the house of the woman raped and was to be a witness against both men. Martha determines that Burgess had been beaten and hanged, but a new physician, Dr. Benjamin Page, arrives in town and disputes her assessment. He then questions her actions as a midwife, while touting his academic credentials and offering unsound medical care. The lack of respect afforded women, both professionals like Martha and accusers in the story, was profound.

North because of Martha's planned testimony against him tries to take the property that Martha and her family live on. In the house, there's her husband Ephraim, sons Jonathan, Cyrus, and Ephraim Junior, and daughters Hannah and Dolly. Martha and Ephraim decades prior buried three daughters, all from illness during one two-period period. Cyrus can't speak, a result of the same disease that took the three, and the night Burgess is killed, Cyrus thrashes him at a frolic, for violently grabbing Hannah when she wouldn't dance with him.

In the Author's Note, Lawhon writes that she collects people, stories that she hears and wants to write about. She was in a doctor's office and came across the story of Martha Ballard and wanted to make a novel out of it, one inspired by her life. Martha is the great-aunt of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and she, like Martha in the novel, kept a diary, one that retained her history. Outside of the diary, it's her husband's name that appears on censuses and tax lists. Perhaps this is why Lawhon wrote of how Martha asked every woman she assisted in childbirth to tell her their name, not their husband's, but their name. It's an excellent book.

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Whistler by Ann Patchett is a nice novel that begins with Daphne Fuller running into her former stepfather, Eddie Triplett, at the museum in New York. The book then tells of their relationship and past history together.

Eddie is a book editor and was married for a year to Daphne's mother forty-four years ago, when Daphne nine and her sister Leda seven. A story that's told throughout the book is of a car accident at that time. Leda was in the hospital with appendicitis, which Eddie told their mother to check for after the school called saying she was sick, and Eddie driving Daphne and the car went over the edge of a cliff. Eddie's ankle was broken and pinned under the emergency brake, and Daphne had to get help.

Patchett writes vividly of the aftermath of the accident, and another great scene with Daphne in her early thirties taking her father, Buddy Zabriske, to Big Sur, California when he had late-stage cancer. She told Eddie that the trip was the smartest thing she'd ever done in her life. It was how she knew she wanted to be with her eventual husband Jonathan, an administrator in Buddy's hospital, and the last time she flew. 

The book is a good story of connections, and has some tremendously well-written and poignant scenes.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi is a spellbinding debut novel from a seventy-year-old former attorney who tells the story of Theo, an eighty-six-year-old newcomer to the small university town of Golden, GA. 

Theo is Portuguese and arrives in Golden from New York City unknown and spends one year there, from springtime to springtime. He goes to the Chalice coffee shop, and sees ninety-two pencil-drawn portraits on the walls, done by local artist Asher Glissen. It notes that Leo feels he recognizes the woman in one of the portraits and gets the idea to buy and give each personally to the subject of the drawing, with each giving away of a portrait a bestowal. The first he purchases to give away is of Minnette Prentiss, married to district attorney Derrick, with the portrait by her uncle Asher. When Theo gives the portrait to Minnette, he notes how her eyes remind him of a girl he knew in Spain many years prior. She says that the sadness comes from her not living up to the expectations of her father, the brother of Asher, who is focused on material success and wants different things for her than she wants. 

Theo meets James Ponder, a business consultant and broker, the only person that Theo tells his story to. Ponder rents Theo the apartment above his office and his secretary aids in the buying of the portraits and Theo personally giving them to the subjects. When he does a bestowal, he asks about the people and their lives, and tells them of the good he sees in them. Along with people, who they are and what they care about, Theo is interested in sculpture, architecture, birds, flowers, and music and there are allusions throughout the book to the secrets he holds. Theo befriends the portrait artist Asher, local bookshop owner Tony, coffee shop owners Shep and Addie, street musician Basil, and cellist Simone. 

Two particular bestowals that turn into friendships are those to Ellen and to Kendrick Walker. Ellen was homeless, spending much of her time on the Promenade in downtown Golden. Some thirty years prior, her newborn daughter Willa was taken from her by the authorities, and Ellen reveals to Theo that she an artist. Walker is a night custodian and his his eight-year-old daughter, Lamisha, is in the hospital, injured in a car crash that killed her mother. Through James Ponder, Theo arranges a doctor for Lamisha to oversee her care and becomes close with her, with mention in the book that Theo's ten-year-old daughter Tita had died decades prior. Also detailed is the person responsible for the car accident that injured Lamisha and killed her mother, and the mercy shown by Kendrick, Lamisha, and Theo.

The people started to intertwine together, talking with one another and referencing their time spent with Theo, to people who also have spent time with him. It's a lovely book, with a tapestry of stories weaved together and lots of foreshadowing in it. At the end of the book, it comes out why Theo was in Golden, and why he every day would sit by the river and watch the sunset. The back cover of the book features a quote from it... "for anything to be good, truly good, there must be love in it. Whether the art is sculpture, farming, teaching, lawmaking, medicine, music, or raising a child--nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core."