How Did "The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon End? All the Spoilers and Twists!

How did "The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon end? Have you finished reading "The Frozen River" and you desperately need to discuss? Or maybe you read it, but can you not remember how "The Frozen River" ends, or you want to just skip to finding out all of the spoilers? Getting refreshed on "The Frozen River" before heading off to book club tonight? Keep reading to discuss this historical fiction novel and all of the twists and turns at the end!

 

 

Spoilers ahead!

 

 

How Did "The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon End?

 

What Are the Twists and Spoilers?

The ending of the book really starts to take off when Martha questions her son Jonathan about what happened the night that they found Burgess's body in the river. Jonathan has just come home from drinking; his guard is down. First, they talk about Sally and how he is planning to marry her and knows that the child she just gave birth to is his. Then, Martha confirms that Sam had rope when they found Burgess in the water. Jonathan says that the rope was around Sam's waist and that Sam seemed upset to find Burgess that day. Martha asks if there was blood on the rope that Sam was carrying and Jonathan, nearly asleep, says yes. That explains where the missing rope was that hung Burgess and that Sam was definitely involved.

Martha is thrown off of her horse, injures her ankle, and goes to the mill.  Martha finds North in the mill going through Ephraim's papers. Martha tells North that he needs to leave because Ephraim will be home soon. Martha asks North why he raped Rebecca, and he says that it is because she was friends with the Wabanaki, an Indian tribe that fought with the French against the settlers of the village. He also says that he took Burgess with him because he knew that no one would believe her if she said that two men came together to rape her.

Martha accuses North of hiding out in Burgess's home. While he was there he was looking for the papers that Burgess had kept in his bag. When North could not find them, he lit the house on fire in rage. These are the papers that Martha found, and Ephraim took with him to Boston to work with Paul Revere. North bought Burgess's silence, promising him Martha and Ephraim's land. He had no intention of actually following through because what North really wanted was to claim most of the town so that they could use the land for lumber. While Ephraim is in Boston, it is determined that the land is his now because they have fulfilled the requirements of the lease. 

While alone together in the mill, North mentions Billy Craine to Martha, the man who raped her thirty years ago. North makes it clear that he intends to do the same to her. He takes off his pants and underwear. Martha dives for her husband's knife and uses it to defend herself and get North away from her. When North approaches her again she swings the knife cutting off his penis. 

Ephraim enters the mill and finds North bleeding profusely. They realize that unless Martha sews up North's wound he will die before they can get him to a doctor. After she is done, Ephraim takes North to Doctor Page. After cleaning up, Ephraim decides to put North's penis in a box and take it to Rebecca Foster detailing to her what happened. She then puts it in her fireplace.

When Rebecca Foster gives birth the baby is given to Sarah White to nurse because Rebecca does not want the child initially. Sarah's soldier does return and plans to marry her, and it is revealed that the soldier is also the man from Boston who came and bought Coleman's store. 

Later, Martha confronts Sam about murdering Burgess. She says that she knows Sam killed Burgess but she doesn't know why. She found lace with Sam, the same kind of lace that Burgess tore from Rebecca's dress. Sam insists that he did nothing to Rebecca. Sam tells Martha that the murder was because of May. Burgess raped May last year after the fight at the Frolic. When she didn't come back, Sam went looking for her. He found Burgess raping May and Burgess had torn lace off of May as well. Sam helped May, and then went after Burgess. Because he had seen how Rebecca Foster was treated when she made her claims about Burgess, Sam decided to take justice into his own hands. After his confession, Martha makes it clear to Sam that she will keep his secret. The rope is burned, and so the evidence is gone. Martha asks who did it with him, and Sam says Jonathan. 

And that's a wrap on "The Frozen River" by Arielle Lawhon! Did I miss any twists or major ending plot points? Wanna discuss? Comment below!