Book Review: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

This book revolves around a secret apothecary who dispenses various poisons to women in need of liberation from men in their lives who had wronged them.

In this we follow three point of views; the apothecary owner, a twelve year old servant girl, both in the 1700s and lastly a woman in present day who had recently found out her husband was having an affair.

In the historical setting, we follow Nella and her hidden apothecary. She has a few strict rules,

1. A woman should never be the victim of any of her poisons.
2. The names of the victim and murderer must be recorded in her shop register.

Things take a turn when Eliza, our second point of few in the historical setting, makes her entrance into Nella’s life as she is the one who is going to murder the next victim.

Our last character Caroline (present-day), finds out her husband of ten plus years or so had been unfaithful. When he is confronted of his wrongdoings he is instantly apologetic and wants to do everything in his power to fix his marriage. Understandably, Caroline is betrayed and can no longer trust him so separation was the only option for her.

Shortly after everything was out in the open, Caroline leaves for London for time away from reality. As she is there, she uncovers a long lost vial that will soon lead her to the mystery of Nella and Eliza’s story.

Now with all that said, this sounds like it would have been a great story with secrecy, revenge, and all you could imagine from a blurb like what The Lost Apothecary offered.

Unfortunately, it didn’t completely work. I still rated its 3.5 star whereas a straight 3 star is labeled “fine” for me. So it’s not bad at all just not as good as it could’ve been.

(Remember books are subjective so not everyone is going to have the same opinion. You might love this book or simply despise it.)

Honestly, I could have done without Caroline’s storyline. I see what the author was trying to do but it just annoyed me for the most part (her husband’s actions throughout the book, her complaining about the things she could’ve done over the years, her “sacrifices”, etc).

I wished the author just focused on the historical storyline. I wanted to see more of Eliza. Maybe even seeing her grow up and aiding other women or potentially finding love. Also Nella finally establishing a sort of mother-daughter relationship with Eliza.

It would have been more heartwarming but what we got was just underwhelming.

SPOILER Alert but Caroline gets a new start and that’s about it.

Comment your thoughts down below, did you read this book? How did you like it? What worked and didn’t work for you? I want to hear it all. 🙂