Title: The Lost Apothecary

Author: Sarah Penner

Publisher: Park Row 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 298

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Seasonal TBR

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

Spoilers in my review (I can’t not rant about the spoilers)

My immediate review after finishing this book was boring. But then I started to think about it more and I moved to “I disliked that book immensely.” It employs a lot of the strategies and techniques that I hate about historical fiction and women’s fiction and does them very poorly. More specifically, here are my problems with the book:

• I thought it was magical realism or a murder mystery or at least suspense, but nope just straight historical fiction.

• Dual timelime - I almost never enjoy these as one of the stories is much more interesting than the other. In this case, they are both boring.

• Modern woman is supposed to be the reader’s anchor, but I instantly disliked her. I didn’t find her relatable at all, but instead a sad sack woman who falls back into bad communication.

• Gaslighting men - Seriously, I know how terrible men can be. Kind of sick of reading books where they are so villainous. So many in a row!

• No distinction between “voices” - We are given three first person narrators who all sound the same. If you picked a randomly passage, I would be hard pressed to guess which of the three women it was without some historical marker clue.

• All women are obsessed with having/not having children - Big theme I’m noticing in books lately and I’m so over it. Even Eliza at 12 is obsessed with the state of womb, she just doesn’t quite know it yet.

• So many not plausible twists and coincidences. Seriously James ingested the poison to attempt get Caroline back? And her notebook with notes about poisons falls out of her bag and opens to that page so that the police immediately see it when they come in. No fucking way. Too much.

• Why does every modern woman in these kind of books have to be running away from something? In this case a cheating husband (who conveniently follows her and shows just how terrible he can be). Why can’t a woman just stumble upon a mystery and have a group of friends or dare I say a good partner that they share it with.

• Caroline’s stupidity throughout annoyed me so much. Why are we keeping things from Gaynor? Other than you breaking and entering the apothecary shop, nothing is scandalous or illegal. So why the secrecy?

• Warming tincture saved Eliza’s life in the river? WTF?

• (The characters were so forgettable that I almost wrote the main modern character’s name as Claire multiple times.)

So incredibly disappointed in this read. I guess it will be a good one to rip to shreds during book club.

Next up on the TBR pile: