Book Club October 2021- The Lost Apothecary

By: Sarah Penner
Published Year: 2021
Publisher: Park Row
Pages: 301

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.

What I thought

The cover of this book has been catching my eye since it came out. I was excited when Meghan picked it as a book club book so I could finally read it.

This is a book of two, or even three stories. Two stories occur in the 1700s, one about an apothecary and the other about a servant girl. The other story occurs in present day. The apothecary doesn’t just dispense healing remedies but also poisons. And only with the purpose of killing men. The servant girl walks into the apothecary to pick up one of these poisons for her mistress and their stories begin to intertwine. Present day follows Caroline on vacation in London when she finds a mysterious bottle with nothing on it other than a small etching. Determined to figure out where and when this bottle came from, she begins to unravel a mystery that was never solved.

The first half of this book was a bit slow. I enjoyed it, but it felt like it was taking me a while for such a short book. The second half of the book I couldn’t put down. I liked the ethical conundrum of Nella’s (the apothecary) shop. It felt kind of Dexter-y where murder is justifiable because it’s against bad people. I also really enjoyed Eliza, the servant girl, and how her innocent curiosity balanced out Nella’s pessimism.

Caroline’s story in present day was intriguing as well and definitely where I wanted to be during the first half of the book. I was just as intrigued by the lost bottle and where it came from as Caroline was. She also is dealing with her own marital troubles and I was curious to see how that was going to play out.

This story was a unique mystery that was being solved on both ends. The true unraveling doesn’t happen until the second half of the book but if you can enjoy the curiosity of the first half you will be well rewarded.

What Book Club Thought

Due to some scheduling conflicts we weren’t able to have a true book club this month, but we did discuss it informally. We all really enjoyed the book but agreed that the first half was slower than the last and up until the second half of the story we didn’t care much for what was happening in the past. There were definitely some twists and turns and I think if we had had more time to discuss everything that happened it would have made for a good discussion. I would definitely recommend checking this book out, especially if you can talk about some of the craziness with someone. It was a quick read and thought not completely what I expected, very enjoyable.