Book Review: Lost Apothecary
I’ve had this book on my wish list for a while. Back in October my husband and I visited Powell’s bookstore after having brunch for the first time since the “before times.” Literally, my first time back in Powell’s since the beginning of the pandemic. It was glorious. I didn’t realize how much I missed browsing at a bookstore in person versus ordering online.
One of the books I purchased was Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. It has been a busy fall, but during our winter break trip to Central Oregon, I packed this book and was very excited to have some time on vacation to read it.
I was not disappointed. I had heard the author on a podcast and I found the premise intriguing. The book is a dual timeline, contemporary and 1790s London, featuring the POVs of three main characters. While this sounds challenging for the reader to follow, the author does an amazing job of keeping it very readable and easy to track the storylines.
The contemporary storyline begins with Caroline, one of the three main characters, on a London vacation from Ohio after uncovering a major betrayal in her marriage. What had been long planned as a special anniversary trip had now become a solo trip for Caroline. She decided to try “mudlarking” on the Thames. Mudlarking is scavenging along the muddy Thames at low tide for artifacts. Caroline finds a small apothecary bottle which leads her to investigate its origins.
The bottle is from a small and hidden apothecary shop in 1790s London. The apothecary is a troubled woman with a tragic past who has carried on a tradition from her mother of providing tinctures for women in distress to solve their problems. Some of the “prescriptions” free the women from problematic husbands who meet untimely deaths. The apothecary is joined by a young servant girl who helped her mistress and is determined, despite the apothecary’s dismissiveness, to learn the ‘magick’ of the apothecary’s craft.
I found myself staying up late with the classic promise of “just one more chapter” because this book is such a page turner. I was transported by the stories and the characters. This book is a bestseller and it is easy to see why. I highly recommend this book - a great read!
Also, mudlarking on the Thames is now on my bucket list.
