Join us at Mechanics’ Hall for a conversation with critically-acclaimed author, Ariel Lawhon and bestselling mystery author, Julia Spencer Fleming. Together we’ll celebrate and learn about Lawhon’s process and inspiration for her sweeping historical mystery with local ties.

THE FROZEN RIVER is inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning diaries of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who finds herself at the center of a shocking murder that unhinges her small community of Hallowell, Maine.

Lawhon’s latest plunges us into the early morning hours of November 1789. Local midwife and healer Martha Ballard has just finished delivering a baby when she’s called to examine a body found in the Kennebec River. Martha instantly recognizes the body—it belongs to one of two men accused of having assaulted her friend. This novel brings to life the sting of the frigid Maine air, warmth of the homesteaders’ fur cloaks, and herbal fumes of the tonics Martha brews.

Learn more & get tickets here.