EXCLUSIVE: Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s Maven Screen Media (Eleanor The Great) have optioned film rights to Ariel Lawhon’s historical-mystery novel The Frozen River (2023).
Inspired by the real-life diary of 18th-century midwife Martha Ballard, the story is set in post-Revolutionary America and charts how a woman’s pursuit of justice threatens to upend a community.
The synopsis reads: “Set in Maine in 1789, The Frozen River opens when a man is found frozen in the Kennebec River. Martha Ballard, a respected midwife and healer, is summoned to examine the body and determine the cause of death. Her private diary, a meticulous record of births, deaths and crimes, soon places her at the centre of a murder investigation intertwined with an alleged rape she documented months earlier. As a brutal winter closes in and a trial approaches, Martha’s quiet authority and refusal to bend to patriarchal power structures put her family, reputation and safety at risk”.
Since publication, the book has sold close to two million copies in 40+ territories and has been on the NYT list for 29 weeks. It has been selected as GMA Book Club Pick, NPR Book of the Year, People Magazine Book of the Week, Amazon Editors’ Pick, Indie Next List selection, Book of the Month Add On and Kirkus Book of the Year.
The screen adaptation will be executive-produced by Linda Rosensweig.
Maven’s credits include Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor The Great, Katie Holmes’ upcoming filmmaking debut Happy Hours and Jamie Foxx starrer The Burial. Rattray oversees Maven’s global output, with Anna Smith Tenser across UK and Europe, and Jenny Halper managing the U.S. slate.
Author Ariel Lawhon said: “I have carried Martha Ballard’s story with me for the better part of my adult life. And though she has long been a personal inspiration, I could never have imagined what she would come to mean to so many others around the world. So, I’m delighted and honoured to partner with Maven Screen Media to bring her story to a new audience.”
Celine Rattray, co-founder of Maven Screen Media, added: “At Maven, we are committed to amplifying women’s voices and bringing their stories to the screen. Martha Ballard’s fight for truth and justice resonates powerfully today around the globe, and so we’re thrilled at the prospect of adapting this extraordinary novel into a cinematic experience that honours its historical setting, while speaking to the universal, timeless themes of resilience and integrity.”