“The Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner

Title: The Lost Apothecary
Author: Sarah Penner
Publisher: Park Row Books
Year: 2021
Genre(s): historical fiction, contemporary
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Time book club selection

Summary: Heartbroken after discovering her husband’s infidelity, Caroline takes their planned anniversary trip to London on her own. When she finds a little vial with a tiny bear etched it, her old love of history is rekindled. She works to find the story behind the vial and discovers one buried for almost three centuries. In the 18th century, Nella uses her training as an apothecary to help women dispatch the men in their lives who have wrong them. When little Eliza comes to her door asking for a poison on behalf of her mistress, it sets off a series of events that will change everyone’s lives – including Caroline’s.

Review: As you can no doubt tell by the rating, I really loved this book. It captured the history nerd in me and never let me go.

I think The Lost Apothecary is the antithesis to another book I just finished and will be reviewing shortly. Both deal with a very short time frame – about a week – but The Lost Apothecary has a lot of action as well as a satisfying conclusion, rather than the other book. So the fact everything happens so quickly works in this book’s favor unlike the other book I will review shortly.

Another way this stands in contrast to that other book is that I liked all our protagonists – Caroline, Nella and Eliza. They had their flaws but they were endearing – whether it was Caroline’s broken heart or deferred dreams, Nella’s growing regrets or Eliza’s naivete and ignorance.I connected with them and rooted for them to succeed. Bravo to Penner for creating not one but three heroines for her book. M

I also enjoyed the female relationships that anchor this book, especially the mother-daughter one between Nella and Eliza. Their bond and partnership was something truly special and I enjoyed reading it, especially when it became clear how much they came to mean to each other in such a short space of time. My only complaint was that we did not get to see more of Caroline’s relationship with Gaynor but it was still just as important and special.

Penner did a great job bringing 18th century London to life and it was clear she did her research in how she wrote about it. She also clearly did her research to create Nella’s world as an apothecary who used her knowledge to harm rather than to heal.

Bottom line: A captivating story about learning that it’s never too late to change the course of one’s life.

Sex: Mentions but nothing graphic

Moonlight Musing

Do you ever wonder about what would’ve happen if you made a different choice in your life?