The Lost Apothecary

April 8, 2021 |  No Comments

The Lost Apothecary

by Sarah Penner

Date Published: March 2, 2021
Published By: Park Row
Page Count: 320


Publisher’s Description:

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. 


My Star Rating:

4 of 5 stars

My Review:

The Lost ApothecaryThe Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun story, powerful feminism.

I enjoyed this dual timeline historical/contemporary women’s fiction. In the past, Nella was an apothecary who learned her trade from her mother. She helped women in a much different way than her mother did, though. She helped women kill men by poisoning them. Hey, no judgments here. It was a dark time to be a woman back then. Dark times, indeed.

In the present-day timeline, Caroline is a woman who’s just discovered her husband had an affair, and she decides to take their anniversary trip without him. Good for her! That’s where she discovers an old apothecary bottle and the secrets it held inside for centuries.

Both storylines were interesting by themselves, but the way they intertwined added some intrigue and propelled the story forward. There was never a point where I thought anything seemed unrealistic or contrived. It all flowed really well, and frequently had me on the edge of my proverbial seat as chapters ended on cliffhangers that transitioned to the other timeline before going back and revealing what happened next.

Grab this one! I definitely recommend to anyone who loves women’s fiction.

View all my reviews


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