As you know if you are an AAR reader, I am obsessed with Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River. The book, about a year in the life of Martha Ballard, will be my top pick for 2023 faves. This book, a non-fiction deep dive into Ballard’s life, won the Pulitzer for best biography in 2010.

Drawing on the diaries of one woman in eighteenth-century Maine, “A truly talented historian unravels the fascinating life of a community that is so foreign, and yet so similar to our own” (The New York Times Book Review).

Between 1785 and 1812 a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife’s Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.

It’s on sale for 2.99 here.

This best-seller is set in the era of Mary, Queen of Scots. We gave it a B+.

Mary, Queen of Scots, was the subject (both knowing and unknowing) of many Catholic plots to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. Aware of this, and with new rumors afoot, Andrew, Earl of Exford, is assigned to monitor Mary’s visit to an English spa town. Luckily, he has a cover. Ten years ago, when he was sixteen and she was ten, he married Lady Elizabeth (Bess) Turville, whose estate is conveniently near the spa. He can reclaim her, consummate their chaste marriage, and take her on a honeymoon during Mary’s visit. No one will be the wiser – unless, of course, an actual conspiracy interrupts things.

At the beginning of this book, Drew is a complete tool. No two ways about it. When he first meets Bess, he mistakes her for a local lass, and fully plots to seduce her since she’s so much better looking than the wife he recalls (who was, let’s also remember, ten). This sets up an absolute gem of a scene in which Bess, who has recognized her husband, welcomes him to their estate in full regalia and makes him look like a total buffoon. This scene was so delicious and deserved that it actually made me giggle.

Bess’s quick wit quickly becomes a defining character trait. After Bess deflates a catty aristocrat’s joke with a classical reference, the woman attempts to turn the tables, asking;

“Does [Drew] admire your pedantry, Lady Exford? I had not thought him to be attracted to female learning.”

Bess calmly replies,

“Oh, I think that he prefers it to female ignorance.”

In addition, she’s a competent estate manager and a clever thinker – all in all, a terrific heroine. I’m ambivalent about Drew though . He does improve as the story progresses, but I think he deserved a few more set-downs before Bess, blissed out on newlywed sex, stops zinging him. So much of his turnaround was based on finding Bess attractive upon his return, and I wanted more recognition from him of the awesomeness of inner Bess.

The mystery is interesting and held my curiosity. Drew cannot (he decides) tell Bess about his mission, so she can’t help but wonder as he flirts and neglects her at the spa town (told you he deserved more set-downs). The author establishes multiple believable villains and, equally importantly, Bess and Drew are as aware of them as we are. I can’t stand it when someone could literally be tying the protagonist to the train tracks and she thinks something like ‘Surely Glenda has a good reason for asking me to lie on this trestle!’

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.

Miranda Neville is still missed. We gave this one a B+.

Caro Townsend is a widow who ran off with her late husband Robert when she was seventeen. He was part of a not-quite-respectable artistic set, and unfortunately also a reckless gambler. After his death Caro is left with very little to live on, but still entertains her artistic friends on her limited budget. She also (in a somewhat shady way) becomes the chaperone of her cousin Anne, a wealthy heiress. Anne attracts the interest of Duke of Castleton, who comes to call – and to potentially court Anne.

Thomas Fitzcharles is determined to marry well to shore up the family coffers (which aren’t exactly empty, but could use a boost). He is heartened when he meets Caro, because he is immediately attracted to her, and thinks she is Anne. Though he is soon disabused of that notion, he commences a courtship with Anne, sure that it’s a good idea.

Caro is somewhat less sure. Anne and Thomas are a bit alike – perhaps too alike. Caro thinks Anne needs a man with a livelier personality to balance her out. Of course, she herself finds Thomas very attractive. But not only does she have no intention of pursuing her cousin’s beau; she has no intention of marrying again. However, their proximity to each other makes sparks inevitable. Then their fate is sealed. Caro journeys to a friend’s home to ask for help with her financial woes. She runs into the same creditor who is pressuring her for cash at an inn, and briefly entertains the idea of giving into his demands that she repay him with sex.

Thomas walks in on them as the creditor is making advances and impulsively declares himself to be Anne’s fiance (and therefore family). He spirits Caro away, but their presence is noted by others, and in the end they have little choice: They must marry.

It’s at Amazon for 1.99 here.

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