I was provided The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner as an ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own and thanks is extended to the author, publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to do so.
A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course. Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman. Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.
First off it is important to say there are some aspects of this book that could trigger some readers such as thinking of suicide, recalling a miscarriage, behaviour of a predatory nature towards an adolescent, divorce and infidelity, poisoning and blood. However, despite all of that I loved it and it didn’t take away from the novel in anyway.
I am a big fan of historical fiction anyway and this had everything I look for it perfectly evoked 1790’s London for me as well as present day London and is the perfect mix of mystery, suspense, murder, discovery, guilt and adventure.
The narrative flips so that each chapter is the point of view of the three different women and there is a clear and entirely seductive link between the time periods courtesy of the little blue vial, however I won’t go into details as I would want all readers to experience it first time round like I had the pleasure of doing.
If I had one criticism – and it is a very small one- is that I found the intense friendships that developed after a very small number of meetings a reach and Caroline’s thought processes within the novel didn’t always sit right with but like I said it is a very small criticism and it didn’t take anything away from the storyline or the narrative as a whole.
I was also pleasantly surprised after reading the description of the book to find that this wasn’t a novel filled with hatred for men nor glorifying women in their hatred and demise of men but simply an illumination of the journey that women go on after making specific choices and the consequences and effect that these choices have on aspects of themselves and their lives.
Overall I enjoyed the novel and its fast flowing pace. A definite 4.5 stars for me.
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