Three Women, One Secret

"The Lost Apothecary" by Sarah Penner is a tantalizing mystery that follows three women, two from the 1800's and one from today. Nella is an apothecary in the 1800s with a dark secret. Eliza is a young girl also in the 1800's who through a request from her mistress finds herself in Nella's shop and befriends her. Caroline is a woman who dreamed of being a historian who ahs now found herself in present day London, mudlarking of all things as she struggles with her very recently discovered marital issues. 

Through the novel you are told bits of the story from each woman's perspective. Only Eliza and Nella really know what happened in 18th century London. The reason for the apothecary shops existence, the reason behind each poison requested. Caroline discovers a vial with an interesting etching on the side and through a rabbit hole of research she begins to unravel the mystery left behind. 

I really enjoyed this book, I basically read it in a few hours and could not put it down. It's also my first full experiment of using tabs and marking portions of the book that stood out to me so I could remember to talk about it. While I'll probably remove the tabs before my next read or even before I shelve the book I found it really fun to slap a sticky note on the parts that intrigued me or made me smile. 

Lets talk first about Caroline, I feel like I mostly marked parts of her story. I felt a kinship with her, thought Penner was feeding me more information than she was feeding Caroline, both Caroline and I were on a journey learning about the apothecary shop. Caroline is a super relatable character, she's kind and passionate and has had her heart shredded to pieces after giving up her dreams to allow her partners dreams and wants to thrive. Yet another literary reminder to make sure everyone's dreams are being fulfilled and no one is giving up everything they want. 

I loved watching Caroline begin to find a piece of herself again. In my opinion the most vital piece of ourselves is the thing we are most passionate about. For me that would be books, I did give that up and not read very much for several years, when I picked up a book and didn't move from the chair till I finished it is when I found myself begin to come alive as me again. For Caroline this is history and research, she comes alive and becomes obsessed with the mystery of it. Finding that vial was the beginning of the rest of her life, the giant billboard sign that answered all of her questions on what she wanted out of life. The best part about it is she doesn't push it down again, she embraces it, she accepts that she made a mistake to put a vital piece of her aside and I love it!

Nella is a super intriguing character and Penner needs to write a sequel...please? I need to know more about Nella! Nella has been through hell literally. Facing the ultimate betrayal. Was her judgement off regarding Fredrick because she was grieving her mother? We'll probably never know; however given some details we are provided later in the story Nella simply got played. What is with the men in this book? No wonder Nella became a murder by proxy, I mean sheesh. 

My favorite thing about her though is that in spite of her dubious trade, she still has some very strict moral rules she is not willing to part with. Poisons should never be used against another woman. If you want to poison your husband, fine, but not his lover. In her way she was trying to maintain a shred of honor towards her mother's initial plan for the shop. An apothecary to help women, women who were not getting the care they needed from their husbands gentlemen doctors. Anything from problems involving childbearing or menstruation, to everyday ailments such as hand tremors or headaches. Personally I think in her own way her mother may have understood. Nella was still dispensing all of her mother's old remedies, she had simply added in a new service. And yes her service was wrong and illegal, but she was still helping women with their problems, those problems just happened to be their bad taste in men. Anyway I want to know so much more about Nella! She's ingenious. 

Eliza threw me for a giant loop...she's so young, I haven't been reading much historical fiction recently so I forgot how young girls were treated basically as adults back then. I do love how much Mrs Amwell protected her. Most women would throw a royal fit and blame the young girl not their husband (don't worry I don't think it made it that far). But watching this genteel woman protect her young maid over her husband...going so far as to employ Nella's dark shop...yes it made her and Eliza especially, murderers, but I think her decision showed character. (read the book before you judge me on this part because I think you'll agree). 

Especially Eliza's decision in the end...broke my heart, it was so beautiful and poetic and perfect. But the actual ending when Nella is going to Mrs Amwell's home to explain what Eliza did for her....I need a sequel, I just....I NEED it! 

While I originally picked up this book 1) because the cover is freaking beautiful...I just want to stare at it constantly but also 2) because I read the about and it reminded me of a story Baily Sarian told awhile ago...if you don't watch her murder, mystery and makeup youtube channel, you definitely should. Anyway she was talking about Giulia Tofana, who is incredibly interesting, I want to do more research on her. But Giulia Tofana was a business woman in Italy, in the early 17th century. Tofana sold poison disguised as perfume to women who needed to get out of the marriages for whatever reason, abuse etc. So I thought that maybe Penner had picked up the tale of Giulia and her Aqua Tofana and switched a few things around to it being England etc but used Giulia as her base.

Obviously the novel is completely different...darn it now I need to go look for a novel about Giulia because that sounds like one hell of a thriller....anyway back to Nella. Nella's story is completely different and after some very, very rudimentary research (I literally read one interview article with the author) I found that she was looking at the actual death records and crime reports in 18th century London and based it off the string of mysterious poisonings that happened. 

Either way, I am so glad I picked up this novel and literally everyone should read it because it's amazing...unless infidelity triggers you because there is a lot in this book, I mean women are seeking out a death apothecary to kill there husbands of course infidelity is a theme.