What audience would you recommend The Frozen River to? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?

Book Clubs The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon Discussion
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What audience would you recommend The Frozen River to? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?

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Anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

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Frozen River would be a great companion story to high school history classes studying the time period. Nonfiction is the norm; however, much is learned through time period fiction.

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I think anyone that enjoys stories based on true events or people, or “period pieces” too. A book that maybe has a similar feel is, Where the Light Enters, by Sara Donati.

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First author that came to mind because of the time period (American Revolution) was historical fiction author Stephanie Dray, who co wrote My Dear Hamilton and America’s First Daughter with Laura Kamoie. Ms. Dray’s more recent publications have also won high praise and have a more contemporary setting (20th century - similar to Ariel Lawson’s Code Name Helene book), namely Becoming Madam Secretary (featuring Frances Perkins of the FDR administration).

I love historical fiction and one element that has been a refreshing change, such as The Frozen River, is to have a linear, straight-forward timeline. (There are “flashbacks” in The Frozen River that help to unravel key story points. This is different from the dual timelines that are set apart by one or two generations and not during the protagonist’s lifetime.) I still enjoy dual timeline historical fiction novels, but the device is starting to lose its luster.

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Agree with Diane - the flashbacks in The Frozen River added details at the appropriate time for plot development and understanding. I find the use of dual timelines frustrating. Sometimes I skip ahead to read about one character then return to the original juncture to read the second character’s storyline.**

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I would recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fiction especially if want to try a book with a more complex story that they can feel part of. Also, I would recommend for Women’s History Month to individuals or book clubs.

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I’m going to recommend it to my book club

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The book is a great historical fiction that depicts the living conditions of the time period. This would be good for young adults, those that have interest in women that made a difference in the late 1700s. and those that like historical fiction.
This is for my next book club selection.

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It is on my book club’s list of “want to read.” Most of the members will like it.

I love historical fiction, and would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction.

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You are posing VERY good questions, Kim. Thanks.

Historical fiction readers will love this book.

Pam Jenoff writes good historical fiction, but it’s mostly WWII.

Kristin Hannah writes historical fiction - The Four Winds may appeal to readers of The Frozen River.

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Any reader who enjoys historical fiction would enjoy this novel. There are so many books out right now about WWII, so it was refreshing to read a well written book on a time period that I have read very little on.
I am planning to read this year with my book club.

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Hey, @Elizabeth, that’s kind of you to say. I wish I could take credit. Sometimes I have to build the discussion guides, but in this case about half the questions came from the publisher, not me.

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Anyone who likes historical fiction would enjoy this book, but also anyone who wants to dig into midwifery, our early legal system or women in history.

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I really do not like dual time periods. Frozen River has been selected for the book club I belong to and I’m happy to know there will be no dual time periods.

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Ditto. My book club has sworn off WWII historical fiction for a while, because we are all rather burnt out on the topic.

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I really like reading about midfwifery. I remember really liking the book Midwives: A Novel, by Chris Bohjalian. I also loved Call the Midwife on PBS and have watched all the seasons. I think I enjoy reading birth stories is because every woman’s experience is different and a capable midwife can impact that experience.

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I think anyone who enjoys historical fiction would like The Frozen River. This would be a great book for book clubs, lots of great discussion material. It would be interesting to compare it to The Midwife’s Tale or Jennifer Worth’s Call the Midwife, which I’ve also read.

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The book group I currently moderate prefer historical fiction, so I would definitely want to discuss this novel with the group. With so many novels set around WWII, it’s nice to have novels that cover a different time in history. I agree any age from young adults on up would enjoy this novel. Kristin Hannah, Melanie Benjamin, Marie Benedict and Chanel Cleeton are all great authors of historical fiction novels.