The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
In eighteenth-century London, women whisper of a hidden apothecary shop and its mysterious owner, Nella, who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. Nella’s dark world is no place for her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, but their unexpected bond sparks a string of consequences that echoes through the centuries.
Two hundred years later, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell is running from her own demons when she discovers a clue to London’s long-unsolved “apothecary murders.” Caroline’s upended present soon collides with an explosive history, binding her fate to Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist that transcends the barrier of time.
~~~~~
The Lost Apothecary sounds like the kind of book that entails everything I love about historical fiction, how could I not pick it up? This is the debut novel of Sarah Penner and it was a great introduction to her kind of writing. I had very high hopes for this one so I was a bit let down as it's more of a fluffy read than I expected but it was still a very intriguing story. Caroline was a great character and I related to her quite a bit, however, the other characters that we visit in this book seemed very one-dimensional and the plot was super thrilling but also moved kind of slowly at the start and seemed like it could have been extended a bit more to give us more of a story than just a quick adventure. Even though there were some minor development issues I really enjoyed the book and it was a nice quick easy read for me after the last mammoth book I read. If you’re into poisons and history, this book will hit the nail on the head for you.
The most intriguing part of this book was the concept of “letting go” and the finding of lost things. Our main character is struggling in life, something earth-shattering has just happened to her and now she’s in a strange city wondering where to go with her life. Through her discovery of the apothecary murders and her attempt to find more about it, she learns how to let go of the past and find her old self, the person she let go of when she reformed herself to make everyone else happy. I really liked this idea of finding lost things, not only did she find this lost piece of history but she also goes on a journey to find herself and I think we can all relate. We all give up a piece of ourselves in life whether it’s giving up on artsy dreams for job security or giving up the dream of travelling the world in favour of instead settling down with a family or vice versa. There are always choices we look back on and wonder "what if?" and this book explores that, not only with Caroline but with our historical characters too.
The plot was fantastic, I loved the slow uncovering of this centuries-old story of a serial killer. The small discoveries were so exciting and it being an apothecary for women to murder the toxic men in their lives was kind of badass. I was getting major Chicago “He had it coming” vibes and I loved it. There were three POVs in this story, two from the past and then Caroline’s in the present and each was very intriguing. I did feel like Nella and Eliza (from the past) weren’t as developed as they could have been as, because we split our time between the two of them in the past, we didn’t get to know them as well as we know Caroline in the future. It seemed kind of like the author wanted all three to be Main Characters but Caroline got way more of a spotlight so it felt kind of hard to relate as well to the other two as their stories felt a bit more superficial. The throwbacks to historical places around London were fun especially since I remember being at a lot of those places. A majority of the story takes place in a part of London where I and a friend spent our last day/night there exploring so it’s very fresh in my mind…. I wish WE’D found a lost apothecary while we were there!
There were a few things about this book that I wasn’t a fan of. The “girl stumbles into a strange city, becomes expert sleuth even with zero prior experience” trope really bugged me. Caroline finds a glass vial with no name on it in the River Thames and this opens this whole investigation where she finds all these answers in the span of days…. Didn’t buy it. Especially didn’t buy it because she found out more on her own without resources than her friend in the novel who is a literal research expert at the British Library…. So, that bugged me quite a bit. The dialogue also didn’t feel as up to par as it could have been. There was no witty banter, and it felt like every conversation Caroline had, whether it was to family or strangers, was very luke-warm. Maybe this is because it’s a first novel so these skills haven’t been as developed… but it stalled me out in a few places while reading.
All in all, (do I end every review with those words?) it was a fun read, I got through it really fast and the plot was very intriguing, it just wasn’t a masterpiece like I expected (how dare this debut novel not rival Jane Austen for my attentions?!) but it was still a very fun read. I gave it 3 stars.