Hello, everyone. We are in a new administration, which means we at Civics 101 are not getting a whole heck of a lot of sleep.

So I'll make this quick. It is our winter fundraiser. We have one item on offer this year. And it's my favorite so far.

It is a large, robust, beautiful black Civics 101 coffee mug that says,

Democracy is my cup of tea.

Because it sure is mine, even if this cup will probably only hold coffee.

The mug will be yours for a one-time $60 gift or $5 a month.

Click the link in the show notes to check it out.

We are so grateful for your support.

Like, really, really.

This is Civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy. Today on the show, we're going to be breaking format and bringing you a conversation with author Ariel Lawhan, recorded live at writers on a New England stage in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The reason we're airing this in the Civics 101 feed is because LaHan's novel, The Frozen River,

is about a time and a place in our country we think about a lot around here, post-revolutionary

America, New England, to be precise.

The book is historical fiction, but it's based on a real-life

midwife named Martha Ballard, who lived an extraordinary life, providing care to more than

a thousand women during her career. The novel takes place in 1789 in Hollowell, Maine. It's part

murder mystery, but also explores timely themes through

an historical lens, women's rights, health care, the criminal legal system, all things we've

touched on in our podcast. If you've read The Frozen River, you'll really enjoy this conversation.

If not, we recommend it. But you can listen

anyway because it's pretty fascinating. And we're putting a link to more about the book in our show

notes. So without further ado, here's our executive producer Rebecca Lavoie with author

Ariel Lawan, recorded live for writers on a New England stage.

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