Book Group - 4th Tuesday at 10:45

What would you like to read in the coming year? Come to Book Club’s August meeting with your ideas for 2025-26 – everyone, and every idea, is welcome. You can find our eclectic reading list of the last couple of years on the Book Group website. https://www.foothills-church.org/book-group

Book Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month via Zoom. We check in at 10:45 AM, then start the discussion at 11:00, which lasts for about an hour. For more info, contact host Ann Nelson at [email protected].

Book Group meets via Zoom on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Participants select the books as a group several months in advance, choosing from all genres. We start our Zoom meeting at 10:45 so any technical problems can be overcome and we can chat a little before our discussion time from 11 to noon. Discussion is always stimulating, lively and respectful. For more information please contact Ann Nelson, or email [email protected]. Hope you’ll join us! https://foothills-church.org/book-group/

About the book: A a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen--one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon's newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

🏳️‍🌈and🏳️‍⚧affirming

#foothillsucc #losaltos #unitedchurchofchrist #progressivechristianity #openandaffirming

#bayareachurch #lgbtqfriendly #bookgroup #bookclub #community #spirituality #service

Host or Publisher Foothills Congregational Church