Sarah Penner

This novel attempts (successfully) one of those very difficult formats: two time frames separated by over 200 years, and also at least two themes mystery, and love/faithfulness. Another element is that it is written by an American author but set in London.

Caroline Parcewell's 10 year wedding anniversary trip to London turns out very different to what she had imagined when just prior to the trip she finds out that her husband has had an affair. Instead of a second honeymoon she finds herself in London alone. With time on her hands she goes mudlarking on the mud flats of the Thames and finds a small blue vial. This sparks a quest to find out more and she uncovers information about an apothecary who used these vials to help women deal with husbands they want to be rid of.

I have read it for my U3A Crime Fiction group.

I have discovered a reader's guide which both poses questions about the story, and gives some background to how and why it was written.

Here are some I may use in our discussion. (click here to find more)

1) The Lost Apothecary opens with Nella in her shop, preparing to dispense a poison meant to kill a man. Her work is sinister, and much about her character is dark and disturbing. When you first learned that Nella was a murderer, how did you view her? How did your feelings change over the course of the book as more of her past was revealed?
Did you believe she would eventually find redemption? In the end, did you see her as a hero, a villain, or something in between? Why?

2) At the beginning of Caroline’s story, she finds the apothecary vial while on a mudlarking
tour. Had you heard of mudlarking prior to reading this book? Do you believe that fate or
coincidence led to her discovery? Have you ever stumbled on something that you consider to
be fate?

3) Both Nella and Caroline have been betrayed by men in their lives. In what ways did the two
women respond similarly to these betrayals? In what ways did they respond differently? Do
you feel that one woman was more emotionally resilient than the other?

4) Nella and Eliza form an unlikely friendship early in the story, despite Nella’s resistance to
having the young girl in her shop a second time. Why do you think Nella eventually softened
her heart toward Eliza? What drew the two characters—one on the cusp of womanhood, the
other toward the end of her life—toward one another? What kind of impact did Eliza have on
Nella’s character?

5) The Lost Apothecary is sprinkled with mention of magick, and several events occur that could
be considered either the work of magick or merely good luck. When you learned that Eliza
survived after ingesting the Tincture to Reverse Bad Fortune, did you believe it the result of
magick, or do you think she was a lucky survivor after jumping into the freezing river?… (more)

Feel like I've been reading a lot of novels recently adopting a similar "parallel plot" structure, in which a modern woman ends up investigating some sort of historical event, in the process obtaining clarity about some sort of ongoing issue in her own life. (Geraldine Brooks' "Horse" comes to mind; also Taylor Jenkins Reid's "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo"; also Ruth Ozeki's "A Tale for the Time Being".) I get it - people like historical novels, and this is a way to write a historical novel without having to go all-in. And apparently it works, if people like me keep reading them, right? This one was even promoted by the Book of the Month club.

In this case the modern woman is Caroline, a former student of history turned dutiful housewife who has just discovered her husband is cheating on her; and the historical subplot revolves around Nella, an 18th century apothecary who, after a disappointed love affair, becomes a dispenser of poisons to women desiring to rid themselves of inconvenient men. The plots intertwine when Caroline, fleeing her imploding marriage, travels to London where, during a bit of mud-larking, she uncovers a vial etched with Nella's trademark. (Why would a poisoner etch their vials with a trademark that could be traced back to them? Just one of a half dozen or so narrative contrivances that move the plot forward but that don't necessarily stand up to sustained logical scrutiny.)

Often in books of this nature one plot is a lot more compelling than the other, but in this case felt like both plots were equally realized. Both women are acceptably authentic though not particularly nuanced, and Penner's a decent writer. Alas, however, the idea of an apothecary gone bad turns out to have been a lot more interesting in my head than on paper. I guess I should have considered that the work of dispensing poisons isn't actually that interesting. Found myself wishing Penner had taken some more narrative risks - making Nella either better (tormented by conscience) or worse (unapologetically angry and wicked); making Caroline either more capable (she can be frustratingly passive) or a lot more angry. (Seriously -a whole subplot devoted to women avenging themselves against men and it never occurs to Caroline to avenge herself on her unfaithful hubby?)

The geek in me enjoyed the bits about mud-larking and researching at the British Library, but the rest of this hit me as a bit "meh." Not a bad book, but not an especially riveting one either. (For a much more juicy and sensational account of apothecaries gone bad, check out Holly Tucker's "City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris." Not for the first time, truth turns out to be so much more fascinating than fiction!)… (more)

honestly this book wasn’t at all what i expected it to be. my sister got it for BOTM but didn’t really enjoy it so she gave it to me. i went in knowing absolutely nothing about it or what people thought about it.
i have become a little too good at predicting book/movie endings, but this one threw me for a loop. it had sweet, funny moments and times where i had to remind myself to breathe and that i’m not Lenna.
i’d say overall pretty good, especially for a book with no expectations on it.… (more)