The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Reviews
4 Stars
Best for:
Those who enjoy a bit of mystery, a bit of revenge, and some history.
In a nutshell:
Two parallel stories: In the late 1700s, Nella runs a secret apothecary in London to assist women who need freeing from abusive men. In the current day, Caroline has come to London to celebrate her 10th anniversary, only just before leaving the US for the trip, she found out her husband had been having an affair.
Worth quoting:
N/A – Audio book
Why I chose it:
Given the outcomes of the election in the US last week, and the world’s general turn backwards in terms of women’s rights and respect, I felt this book was a good reminder of women will do when they don’t have other options to be safe. Also I just got my library card here and this is my first borrowed audio book!
Review:
This book has some of my favorite things – multiple perspectives, stories that interact but take place in different time.
Nella runs an apothecary, taken over from her mother. She runs a special service from a hidden room, where she assists women who need freeing from abusive men, One day, a 12-year-old named Eliza comes on behalf of the woman she works for.
Meanwhile, Caroline ends up mudlarking while in London trying to sort out what to do next about her marriage. She finds a vial with a tiny bear etched on it, and decides to research where it came from.
Without giving away any major plot points, I appreciate how the author weaves in ideas of loss, of childhood and ignorance, of how life can get away from us and our dreams and goals. A large, looming aspect is how people will take back power when power is either taken from them or withheld. I also appreciate how each of the two women and the girl were written – we get point of view chapters from all of them, and especially for Nella and Eliza, we see how different events might be understood differently depending on the life experiences one has.
I would definitely read more by this author. The only real issue I had was with the audiobook performance choice. Caroline is from the US, but the person who read her chapters read them with an English accent. When the character was talking to others, the actor used a US accent, but that was rare. As someone from the US, it was odd to hear an English accent for someone from the US, and was at times confusing as her not being English was somewhat relevant to the plot.
What’s next for this book:
Return it to the library, recommend to a friend,
