The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Sarah Penner’s debut novel The Lost Apothecary is a wonderfully original story with compelling characters and plot twists, set in two different time periods. Modern-day aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell is in London alone for her tenth wedding anniversary after finding out about her husband’s affair. She joins a group of waders searching in the muck of the Thames river and finds an unusual bottle with a small bear etched on it. The bottle once belonged to an 18^th-century apothecary named Nella who dispensed poisons to help women kill scoundrel husbands or other harmful men in their lives. In the 18^th-century timeline, young Eliza comes to Nella’s hidden shop to fetch a poison for her mistress to kill her lecherous, predatory husband, which kicks off a spiral of interesting events that you’ll have to read to find out. 

The modern and old stories parallel nicely and are equally compelling—a hard feat to pull off, especially in a debut novel! As each story twists and turns, the net pulls tighter for all three women in a way that connects them through time.  

This is smart, edgy, thought-provoking, escapist fiction at its best! 

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