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A review by mbmayo
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book is told from multiple perspectives. Caroline's story is set in the present day, while Eliza and Nella's story takes place primarily in 1791. The two stories are connected by a physical object, a small glass vial from Nella's apothecary shop that Caroline finds two centuries later in the River Thames. Like many stories told like this, some perspectives are more interesting than others. Caroline drove me nuts with her choices.
From the very start, she uses the example of giving up her application to Cambridge's history program as an example of her husband pointing her away from her dreams towards more "reliable" "safe" choices. As though there are no universities offering graduate history programs in Ohio. She also talks about boxing up her novels, because as we all know responsible adults don't read old Victorian books! We never hear anything good about James, no indication as to why she married him and stayed married for 10 years. I feel like this was a missed opportunity from the author to make me care about the relationship.
Also, as she works through the mystery, she keeps fantasizing that if she solves it maybe someone will give a job as a historian researcher. This line of thinking would make sense if she were the twelve year old in the story, but she's thirty something. At the end of the book, she applies to Cambridge in a night. Truly I should not have expected realism by this point in the book, but as someone who has applied to undergraduate and graduate level programs, it takes more than a few hours. But of course she gets in.
I also don't understand why she threw the glass vial away (I assume something about closing that chapter of her life.) or why Eliza ends up with twins at the end (women wanting babies is a present theme in this book, but I don't recall it being important to Eliza).
From the very start, she uses the example of giving up her application to Cambridge's history program as an example of her husband pointing her away from her dreams towards more "reliable" "safe" choices. As though there are no universities offering graduate history programs in Ohio. She also talks about boxing up her novels, because as we all know responsible adults don't read old Victorian books! We never hear anything good about James, no indication as to why she married him and stayed married for 10 years. I feel like this was a missed opportunity from the author to make me care about the relationship.
Also, as she works through the mystery, she keeps fantasizing that if she solves it maybe someone will give a job as a historian researcher. This line of thinking would make sense if she were the twelve year old in the story, but she's thirty something. At the end of the book, she applies to Cambridge in a night. Truly I should not have expected realism by this point in the book, but as someone who has applied to undergraduate and graduate level programs, it takes more than a few hours. But of course she gets in.
I also don't understand why she threw the glass vial away (I assume something about closing that chapter of her life.) or why Eliza ends up with twins at the end (women wanting babies is a present theme in this book, but I don't recall it being important to Eliza).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Moderate: Vomit, Infertility, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Sexual assault
Minor: Medical content and Rape