The Lost Apothecary

Book Reviews

May 20

The Lost Apothecary
By: Sarah Penner

[Nominated for ‘Best Historical Fiction’ and ‘Best Debut Novel’ categories of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]

“This is my work, my grief to bottle up and dispense.”

The Plot

In 1791 “buried deep behind a cupboard wall at the base of a twisted alleyway in the darkest depths of London…” you’ll find a once popular apothecary shop.

The shop has not quite lost its popularity, but instead of tinctures of healing, the vials that leave that shop bring death.

Nella, the dispenser, shrouds her shop in secrecy. After taking on her mother’s occupation, a terrible betrayal leads her to rebrand her skills. She has taken up the banner of helping women dispose of men.

“Killing and secret-keeping… had begun to rot me from the inside out, and something inside meant to tear me open.”

Eliza, a twelve-year-old on request from her mistress, comes to Nella’s shop to retrieve a poison for her mistress’s husband who has shown a dangerous interest in Eliza. Her curiosity and fascination with magic draws her to Nella like a moth to a flame. She has come to London to seek a better life for herself than her mother’s and Nella’s shop looks like a good option.

“In a matter of days, the cocoons would turn black as soot, as if the animal inside had shriveled up to die. But then, the darkness would life, revealing the butterfly’s striking blue wings within the papery encasement. Soon after, the butterfly would take flight.”

The two face danger when one of Nella’s clients fails in her administration of her poison and the identities of all the women who have come to her for help are on the verge of discovery.

Caroline, in present day, comes across a vial during a mudlarking expedition while vacationing in London. Lover of history and research, Caroline welcomes the distraction from her newly-discovered unfaithful husband to find out the story of the vial and the lost apothecary of London.

“I needed a break from the grief suffocating me, the thorns of fury so sharp and unexpected they took my breath away.”

The three women encounter a crossroads. Where do they find freedom? What role does magic play? Is healing possible?

Themes

There is definitely a vibe of feminism in this book. Our three main characters are women, there’s only one good man in the book, and Nella’s whole life’s work involves killing men. Granted, the men portrayed in this book have done unacceptable things.

During the 1700s, women didn’t exactly have a lot of rights, voice, or power. The historical fiction aspect of this story is not only the setting of London during this time, but exploring one of the few options women had to protect or free themselves— slipping poison into the food or drink of their target.

The author’s note at the end informs us that toxins were not detectable in corpses during that time so it’s impossible to know how many deaths during the years before that discovery were actually due to poison and not natural causes as they appeared to be. And toxins were surprisingly accessible.

Another theme in this book is Caroline’s unfulfilled life. The discovery of her husband’s affair causes her to realize that she has lost a part of herself since they got married. She always took the ‘safe’ path and gave up on her dreams and her passions.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of this type of theme. I don’t like encouragement to not let anyone or anything get in the way of your dreams and your passions, especially when it means dropping your family. I’m not a proponent of always giving up on dreams either.

But there’s more honor and love in the decision to sacrifice for your family. Why can’t we accept that life might not look as we originally thought it would and figure out a way to incorporate our passions in a way that keeps our families together? I think the world’s definition of ‘fulfillment’ is lacking.

HOWEVER, the caveat here is that Caroline’s husband had an affair and we find out other ways that he’s not a good person. That is a different context than a woman walking out on her family on a whim to go achieve everything she always wanted. So Caroline thinking about what she wants to do with her life here isn’t the same selfishness I critique above.

A third theme is more obvious. Nella must wrestle with the morality of her work. Does killing men negate that she is helping women? Does her work truly atone for the betrayal that was enacted against her? Has she been fooling herself to justify what she does?

Recommendation

I love the setting of London in the 18th century. I liked Nella and Eliza’s storyline much better than Caroline’s.

The author uses Caroline’s story to help us learn what happens to Nella and Eliza but I wish she could have figured out a way to do that during the same time period. I was more interested in what they were doing than what was going on with Caroline.

Magic doesn’t play a huge role throughout the book. It’s mostly just part of Eliza’s perception of how tinctures work. But with an important twist….

So if you want a book about a world filled with magic, this isn’t it.

But I still really enjoyed this read. I read it pretty fast. It was mysterious and intriguing.

And I really liked the ending!

Penner also puts a lot of extras at the end of her book. She includes a bunch of book club discussion questions. She also includes the historical context for apothecaries, a list of plants and what they’re used for, a guide to creating your own in-home apothecary (think a lot of essential oils…), information on mudlarking (which I wish I had had the chance to do when I visited there several years ago!), and some recipes for remedies, teas, cookies, etc.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book. I think it deserves its nomination for both categories!

“The vial marked the end of one quest and the beginning of another; it represented a crossroads, the abandonment of secrets and pain in favor of embracing the truth— in favor of embracing magic. Magic, with its enchanting, irresistible appeal, just like a fairy tale.”