INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNamed Most Anticipated of 2021 by Newsweek, Good Housekeeping, Hello! magazine, Oprah.com, Bustle, Popsugar, Betches, Sweet July, and GoodReads!March 2021 Indie Next Pick and #1 LibraryReads Pick“A bold, edgy, accomplished debut!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice NetworkA forgotten history. A secret network of women. A legacy of poison … Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
A forgotten history. A secret network of women. A legacy of poison and revenge. Welcome to The Lost Apothecary…
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.
With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
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Loved this book.
A bewitching story about an 18th century apothecary, secrets, and women seeking revenge on the men who have wronged them.
…
…to find out if vengeance is really the answer to heartache?
• Trust-Betrayal-Revenge
• Perfectly paced suspenseful historical fiction
• Page-turner with well-developed characters
“Heartache is shared by all, and favors no rank.”
THE LOST APOTHECARY is a compelling story that unites three women across three hundred years. Set in London, it’s about disturbing secrets, an underground network of women seeking to reclaim their lives, female friendship, and self-discovery. It’s also a darkly fascinating tale of revenge, poison, and the mysterious truth about a female serial killer in Georgian London.
As the modern-day heroine, an aspiring historian, seeks to uncover the truth about the vial she found while mudlarking in the Thames, the novel rushes to an intricate conclusion.
I’m left with only one question: As someone who used to live in London, why did I never go mudlarking?
/ 3.5 stars
This was an enjoyable read but oh how I wish the story stacked up to this gorgeous cover.
I really liked the historical timeline and its dual POVs but thought the present timeline wasn’t needed and actually took away from the overall flow of the book.
Had the author stuck solely with the historical, going more in depth about Nella’s past and some of her other customers/victims, I think this would easily have been a 4+ star read for me.
“Killing and secret-keeping had done this to me. It had begun to rot me from the inside out, and something inside meant to tear me open.”
I really loved this book. I loved the characters,they all felt real with strong natural emotions. I also loved the sisterhood that was among all the women in the book (Eliza, Caroline, Nella and Gaynor). The plot was not predictable and kept me reading late into the night. Overall its a great read and good for a book club too.
Oh boy! This one suckered punched me in the feels!
This is yet another book I’ve seen floating around all over bookstagram and wanted to read it but had so many others on my list that I just didn’t get to it. I joined a book club, and this was this month’s read so I HAD to read it!
I’m not old but I’m not a young one and this was one of those books that I just needed to read at this point of my life. It really resonated with me and certain things that I have had to deal with.
The timeline jumping was not confusing at all, and I liked getting to know Eliza and Nella, but it was Caroline who I most connected with. She finds herself in a very bad situation and decides to take some time to wrap her mind around it and regroup so of course, she goes to London!
For the first time in her life, she’s all alone in a foreign country and gets to make her own decisions based on HER interests. TRYING to be spontaneous and to do something she normally wouldn’t do, she goes mudlarking, which leads her down a path she truly needed to go through.
As she investigates events surrounding Elize and Nella, Caroline finds and embraces the person she once was. In the little time she had to herself, she learns so much about herself and sees how life has changed her, and not necessarily for the better.
All of this is even more clear, when her jackass husband completely disregards her need to be away and shows up in London. Dude could NOT take a hint! When he doesn’t get the welcome, he wanted, he does something so stupidly dangerous that not only put him at risk, in the process Caroline was harassed by the police because she “looked” guilty.
During her time at the library doing her research, Caroline befriends Gaynor who is the embodiment of the support Caroline had been lacking for all her adult life. Even though they were still practically strangers, Gaynor showed up when Caroline most needed someone.
The decisions Caroline takes after all that turmoil and adventure have inspired me. It’s not never too late to make decisions for your better wellbeing. It’s not selfish to put yourself first from time to time. It’s not okay to be in a relationship where you become so oppressed you forget who you once were and what your interests were.
I would so love to see a “few years down the road” type of epilogue. We get that for Eliza and Nella so it would be nice to see how things play out for Caroline and her newfound confidence.
Definitely recommend it!
I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did! I actually read the whole thing on a plane ride to and from Florida and literally could not put it down. The alternating stories between Nella and Eliza and Caroline were enthralling and woven together in such a seamless way that the ending was completely satisfying, but still somewhat unexpected. I’m not usually a fan of historical fiction, but the timeline from the 18th century was really only a backdrop to Nella’s story and the larger theme of women taking control of their own power.
I’ve seen this book get mixed reviews by readers and that always interests me as a writer to go and want to read why it could be polarizing. Many readers didn’t like the present-day timeline as much as the past, but my guess is that a woman dealing with marital problems isn’t that unique whereas the storyline of an apothecary using poison to kill men is much more intriguing. Overall a satisfying read that I was glad to have read. Plus a kickass cover.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a book I saw available as a Book of the Month pick, and once I read the synopsis, I was set on reading it. Before I did, however, I got to watch a virtual event with Penner that had me even more excited to read it. There isn’t anything much better than getting to see an author, get an idea of their personality, and then read their book, right? I am the first to say no there isn’t. I enjoyed all 3 viewpoints in the story which are the apothecary Nella, our modern-day finder of the vial Caroline, and Nella’s patron Eliza. HOWEVER, I would have taken only Nella and Eliza in a second. For one, Nella’s job is absolutely fascinating, and her backstory was just as much, and I was also quite taken with Eliza’s backstory as well. Caroline’s POV got a little boring and weird for me at times, and I would have loved for her to have a different storyline from what she did.
There is a hint of magical realism to the story, but the majority of it felt very real. We do in fact have historical fiction here as well since being an apothecary is a very real job that existed both in the past and still exists today. I was a huge fan of the audiobook, which is narrated by Lorna Bennett, Lauren Anthony & Lauren Irwin. You have no idea how happy it made me to have a narrator for each viewpoint, and I loved every single one of them. I loved the ending of The Lost Apothecary, and all roads lead to something very interesting and satisfying. A huge standout here is definitely Penner’s storytelling abilities. I loved the tone she set for this book, and her writing was (perfectly) descriptive and very engaging, plus I love how the cover actually did it justice which doesn’t *always* happen. I think this was such a promising debut and I have a sneaking suspicion that we will be seeing a lot more of Penner.
While there was no magic in this story, something about it had an air a otherworldliness. Maybe it was the dual timeline or that is was about a female apothecary mixing up her tinctures. Who knows.
I enjoyed the multiple POV, it was easy to discern where you were and who was speaking. I enjoyed the slight air of mystery and suspense; I had an idea what might happen in the end but how that came to pass was slowly revealed throughout the story. I also enjoyed how female focused this story was, there were really only two male characters but they had small roles.
If you’re looking for something “witchy” but realistic to read this fall, this might be a great choice for you.
: I thought that the narrators did a great job of bringing the characters to life and differentiating between the characters when changing POV. I was easily about to listen to this on 1.85x speed and still enjoy their voices.
We meet Caroline and James about to head to London for an anniversary trip but Caroline goes alone as her husband has admitted to being unfaithful.
While larking to find some cool artifacts, Caroline finds a bottle with a bear etched into it. Nessa asks Eliza for help on this one potion for this client as her hands are swollen & sore
I absolutely loved this book. I loved all the characters especially Caroline, Gaynor, Nessa & Eliza. This was such a wonderful book detailing a not so safe time. I highly recommend
An amazing debut novel from Sarah Penner, this story weaves the past and present together using a bit of magik and a lot of intellectual prowess. There is so much detail to the 18th-century portions that I had little knowledge of before this. It is gratifying to learn something new, even after years spent reading about this general time period.
The modern portions were a bit less satisfying but still so well-written. Caroline has given up so much of herself for a man who is so stultifying; it is rewarding to see her follow her own dreams. All the complications in both time periods make up the story itself, which makes the reading worth the time.
An engaging mystery with feminist commentary awaits readers of Sarah Penner’s debut The Lost Apothecary. Alternating between three narrators, Penner intertwines historical and current themes of women’s power. In London’s 1791, Nella is an apothecary who has dedicated her life to aiding women. Sometimes with remedies and other times with deadly poisons. Scorned in her younger years, she has transformed the shop she inherited from her mother into a clandestine provider of extreme solutions. Her creations are designed to rid women of the ill-behaved men in their lives, permanently. One day, an unusual new customer appears at her doorstep. Eliza has been sent by her mistress to obtain a concoction to help her husband meet an early demise. Curious about how and why Nella provides her services, Eliza ends up becoming a reluctant friend and de facto apprentice to Nella. The accompanying story line takes place in present-day London. Caroline is pondering her life’s choices after a deep betrayal. She travels solo on a trip to England that was meant to be an anniversary celebration. Her fateful discovery of an artifact connected to the old apothecary reignites her passion for history. With the aid of current day resources and a well-versed librarian, Caroline keeps digging to determine the provenance of her find. As Caroline builds on her investigation, the reader is privy to the events from 230 years ago and accompanies her on the voyage from that standpoint as well. The Lost Apothecary demonstrates how far women have come in terms of opportunities, but also portrays the ways in which we limit ourselves. This is a wonderful novel from a promising new author who already has fans asking for more.
Thanks to the author, Park Row Publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
I am puzzled as to why so many authors have recently taken to writing braided narratives as they are very hard to do. (Especially for debut authors.) Inevitably the part set in the present day is a lot less interesting than the part set in the past, and the exasperated reader is left wishing the author had ditched the former for the latter.
Such is the case with debut author Sarah Penner’s THE LOST APOTHECARY. Like many readers I really could have done without the frayed 21st marriage of Caroline & her husband (whose name I forget, as he was really so forgettable.) Instead, I really wish Ms Penner had put her energies into getting the past right. It was jarring to have everything in meters in England in the 18th century, when meters were only just coming into being, in France, after the French Revolution. And I haven’t even mentioned all the problems with language that many readers noted, which ruined the atmosphere of a novel set in London in the late 18th century.
This was all the more disappointing because THE LOST APOTHECARY is such a brilliant concept. Who wouldn’t love to read about feisty women from the past who get their revenge on all the men who treat them so contemptuously and with such lack of respect? Poisoning with clever techniques for hiding the evidence is the ultimate crime.
Unfortunately, the way it was handled didn’t bring out all the juicy possibilities. For one thing, Nella (we never know her last name) the apothecary is too guilty. I understand how she feels, but her never-ending guilt makes her too one-dimensional and as her character never changes, over time this begins to pall.
And then there is Liza, her 12-year-old would-be assistant. I loved Liza, she is entirely charming. But again, there is no character development.
How I wish that instead of the story Ms. Penner chose to tell, we could have had a tale in which we were privy to a string of men’s bad deeds to women in the late 18th century, and how the women plotted their revenge and got away with it…until they didn’t. That would have provided a magnificent story arc with bags of tension. Instead we got a tired, dying apothecary and a too-young girl who tried to help…and didn’t
Which was a great pity. Three stars.
I really wanted to love this book, especially with all the glowing reviews, but I found it too melodramatic for my taste. The premise was so enticing, and I’m usually all about the dual storylines bridging past and present, but unfortunately, I just wasn’t impressed. I didn’t feel like there was much historical research that had gone into building the world of London in the late 1700s, and while the story started strong (I really liked our modern day narrator’s first few chapters in London, particularly the mudlarking scene), everything ending up fitting a little too neatly together in a way that felt contrived. What bothered me most was Eliza’s narrative – she was meant to be a rather naive 12 year old, and instead came off as a young woman in her twenties, particularly with the ending (no spoilers, but it made me want to throw my kindle across the room). Just not my cup of tea, but probably a much better fit for someone who prefers lighter women’s fiction!
The Lost Apothecary is a brilliant debut novel! I was pulled into the dual timeline story from the first page and raced through. I can’t wait to read Sarah Penner’s next book!
I thought the events and outcomes in the novel were fairly predictable.
Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary is a propulsive read. The narrative moves between a contemporary and 1700s London stories and keeps the reader engaged every step of the way. I highly recommend this unique historical novel.
I really loved this book! Brilliantly paced and I found myself really invested in the characters. It is a really unique premise beautifully executed…a debut that deserves all the hype.
Penner crafts a captivating split-time novel that will keep you spellbound. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the darker side of the healing arts.
My only complaint with this novel is the profanity.
I borrowed a copy from my local library. All views expressed are my honest opinion.