Hey y’all! In contrast to Throwback Thursday, I like to use Fridays to look forward to an upcoming release that I’m excited about! Today’s is The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.
Expected Release: March 2, 2021
Why wait on this one?
- Murder and vengeance. Boy oh boy, do I get a little bloodthirsty under the right circumstances. Like a full moon. Like tonight…. Anyway, this is like a blend of domestic thriller, and murder mystery, and historical fiction, and chemistry. Man, I really hope there’s a lot of chemistry – and I mean that literally, not in a romance kind of way. xD I came to adore vengeance stories when reading Coriolanus with a dope professor in my college Shakespeare course. Thanks Misty ✌
- Old London is RIFE for interesting stories because of the bizarre half-lawlessness of it. I feel like there are so many absolutely crazy things about 1700s London that make any kind of story set there have the freedom to embrace some really exciting and just-enough-believable moments. I guess I blame this on the same professor as above, who taught several 18th century lit classes that I really enjoyed.
- Sex and gender struggles! Power plays! OOOOOOH BOY am I into that. The Power and Invisible Women both set me on fire for this kind of thing, so I really hope the “poison is never to be used on another woman” thing is put to the test. I wonder if there will be any lesbian couples who end up being like “BUT SHE’S JUST AS BAD AS A MAN!!!” Either way, let’s buck the system ladies. 👊 You know, I’m realizing that this is basically a book I’m interested in BECAUSE I met that professor and learned a lot in life & lit from her. Misty, if you read this, you may also love this book.
Summary
A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course
Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.
