The Lost Apothecary Review!

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

The Lost Apothecary is a new genre for me (yay!): historical fiction! This is a fun twist on history, giving it a fun whimsy feel!

This books follows the lives of 3 women: Nella, Eliza, and Caroline. Caroline is our modern day narrator who is struggling to figure out herself after finding out her husband has cheated on her. She heads off to England where she takes the space she needs and stumbles head first into a historical treasure hunt. Nella and Eliza are our historical points of views. Both alive in the 1800s, we get to see how their lives and roles played out. Nella is an older women who has faced a trauma that then turns her to help women with revenge through different poisons. Eliza, a 12 year old girl, befriends Nella after her mistress has Eliza fetch a poison from Nella. Eliza is intrigued by Nella's world and is determined to have a place in it. As the story continues, and the pressure is on to find the 'Apothecary Killer', we see just how little history can leave out. In a fun narrative, we see how the struggles all women face can span centuries, and just how one mystery can help solve another.

This book was okay. It felt very anti-climatic to me, and I was frustrated with the main characters often. I found Caroline to be really annoying: she was so concered about what James thought and what she should and shouldn't do to the point that it controlled her every action. She only really became interesting right at the end, when she finally took her life into her own hands. Everything was so dramatic and for no real reason. Nella was alright, her morally grey compass added a little spice to everything. Eliza pissed me off. She never listened to anyone and kept doing things that just seemed out of character. I liked the idea of the story, but I wish there had been more to it. Overall it was a fine read, and I really loved the added section of poisons and the reciepes at the end!

Overall: 5/10

Pages: 302

Trigger Warning: miscarriages, adultery, murder, suicide

Spice: 0/10