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A review by erebus53
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a book I picked up as a catchup on previous book club reads. I like the cover because it's pretty and purple. Set in London, it tells two separate stories; one of the late 1700s and one of a modern American woman who is on holiday trying to get some away-time from a marriage that recently hit a rough patch.
As a personal journey, our main character, Caroline, is a woman who has given up a lot of her dreams along the way. She has settled in a lot of ways, and so is distressed when she finds out that her husband is keeping secrets. I think this is a relatable situation. It's so common for a woman to give up a lot of herself to support her new husband, and for them both to become disillusioned with parts of their lives as the nature of the life they share together changes. I think that you have to be in the right sort of mood to engage with a story that is predominantly focused on the revenge of disempowered women against the men who have wronged them. If I read too many novels like this back to back, I start to feel pretty jaded by it.
Having read a few stories now, that are based in historic London or that deal romantically with the emotional/fae/mythic past of London (Rivers of London, Lockwood & Co., Left-Handed Booksellers, Neverwhere) a lot of the locations and names are really familiar. Mentions of old Tyburn immediately put me in a creepy gallows feel. As I have only really engaged with the city in books and media, it's an odd familiarity with a foreign-to-me place.
I really like plants, and their medicinal and practical uses, so delving into the story of Nella, a woman brought up dispensing herbal cures in the late 1700s, is a fun romp in familiar territory also. The preparations she makes are legit. They are things that actually exist and were commonly used, and the author deliberately selected a time where the sciences of chemistry and forensics were not so advanced as to be used in autopsies. By adding the young and impressionable Eliza, we explore the idea that women are the only keepers of "women's knowledge" and that if girls don't have mentors then the world can be an even scarier place for them.
This is a story about desperation and women taking the law into their own hands. It explores the idea of acting outside the system, where that system is only in place to look after the powerful. It is an exploration of hope and healing. There are some really tense bits, dodging the police, false accusations, and an awkward coincidence that has some unforeseen consequences. Without that particular mess I think the story would be a whole lot weaker.
For it's length I found it a fairly quick and easy read. I wasn't blown away by it, but it was amusing and entertaining.
As a personal journey, our main character, Caroline, is a woman who has given up a lot of her dreams along the way. She has settled in a lot of ways, and so is distressed when she finds out that her husband is keeping secrets. I think this is a relatable situation. It's so common for a woman to give up a lot of herself to support her new husband, and for them both to become disillusioned with parts of their lives as the nature of the life they share together changes. I think that you have to be in the right sort of mood to engage with a story that is predominantly focused on the revenge of disempowered women against the men who have wronged them. If I read too many novels like this back to back, I start to feel pretty jaded by it.
Having read a few stories now, that are based in historic London or that deal romantically with the emotional/fae/mythic past of London (Rivers of London, Lockwood & Co., Left-Handed Booksellers, Neverwhere) a lot of the locations and names are really familiar. Mentions of old Tyburn immediately put me in a creepy gallows feel. As I have only really engaged with the city in books and media, it's an odd familiarity with a foreign-to-me place.
I really like plants, and their medicinal and practical uses, so delving into the story of Nella, a woman brought up dispensing herbal cures in the late 1700s, is a fun romp in familiar territory also. The preparations she makes are legit. They are things that actually exist and were commonly used, and the author deliberately selected a time where the sciences of chemistry and forensics were not so advanced as to be used in autopsies. By adding the young and impressionable Eliza, we explore the idea that women are the only keepers of "women's knowledge" and that if girls don't have mentors then the world can be an even scarier place for them.
This is a story about desperation and women taking the law into their own hands. It explores the idea of acting outside the system, where that system is only in place to look after the powerful. It is an exploration of hope and healing. There are some really tense bits, dodging the police, false accusations, and an awkward coincidence that has some unforeseen consequences. Without that particular mess I think the story would be a whole lot weaker.
For it's length I found it a fairly quick and easy read. I wasn't blown away by it, but it was amusing and entertaining.