Reviews

Set to the backdrop of the plague, The Hemlock Cure is set in the village of Eyam, famous for its self imposed quarantine. Mae is the village apothecary’s daughter. Her father Wulferic is a pious and controlling man, and his distaste for the village’s midwife, Isabel is obvious. A three pronged narrative; flashbacks, diary entries and a ghostly narrator bring the past and present together, revealing long hidden secrets.
Excellent historical fiction with some really interesting parallels with our recent pandemic.

contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This novel is set during the 1665 to 1666 plague of Eyam. It follows Mae, Eyam's apothecary's daughter, with an incredible gift that gives her great insight in to making herbal remedies. But with how pious her father is, her gift is more like a curse. Plus her close attachment to the towns midwife, Isabel, puts her in jepody when her rage fueled father finds out. So she must keep secrets, but she's not the only one.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found Mae a very interesting and loveable character. Whilst the book is told in first person, Mae is not in fact the narrator, which I found to be an interesting twist on the norm. I also loved that it was set during the plague and quarantine of the Derbyshire village of Eyam but that did not play a major part in the plot of the book. It was simply the setting in which events took place, and as such certain things happened with consequences the characters we followed had to deal with. I enjoyed the interplay between real life people and fictional characters. Overall I had a really good time with this book. It was a little slow to start but once it got going I was hooked and wanted to read as much as possible until the very end.

jmatkinson1's review against another edition

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4.0

1665 and the Plague is raging in London, in the village of Eyam it seems a world away and there are other concerns. Mae is the only remaining child of Wulfric the apothecary, she longs to learn but in reading her father's books she discovers his secrets and desperately needs to escape. Johan hides his love for his sister's husband but when she falls ill he travels to London to help. However a batch of old clothes has arrived in Eyam and the village is no longer safe.
The story of the village of Eyam is well-known, a village that chose to isolate itself whilst the plague raged within. Here that story is used as a backdrop for an interesting historical novel. There are parts that work well, Wulfric's madness and suspicions of witchcraft are frightening and yet believable in the context, the love between Johan and Jacques feels less so. It's a strong book overall and definitely worth reading.

issyfrp99's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is so good but don’t read it on the train because you will miss your stop ;)

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