I enjoyed this tale of female friendships, lost passions found again, and the importance of sharing secrets with souls you can trust. While it wasn't all I expected in terms of an exciting story of an apothecary murderer, "The Lost Apothecary" was a quick read with a fun mystery to be solved.

The Lost Apothecary was a quick read about an American women (Caroline) in contemporary London trying to get some space from her unfaithful husband, a women (Nella) in 1790s London who works as an apothecary and helps women to kill their husbands, brothers, fathers, etc, and a 12 year old girl (Eliza) who visits the apothecary on an errand from her employer and develops a deep interest for her and what she does.
Caroline finds a tiny vial with a crude bear stamped on it and decides to try to discover where and who the vial came from, with the help of a new friend at the British Library. The chapters jump back and forth in time between the different narrators.
I found The Lost Apothecary an engaging, if a little boring, read. Based on the blurb, I was expecting a fast paced and exciting story, but it was quite slow at times, and I found I didn't really invest in the characters and the research that Caroline conducted was very simplified - I would have appreciated a little more work and digging to find the answers. I did enjoy Nella and Eliza's chapters, but found myself wishing for a little more murder mystery and less mixing of tinctures.

When I got the list of new books from Harper Collins and saw this book on the list and read the description, I knew that I had to read it. It sounded like something that was right up my alley. I love historical fiction and I love to find new authors as well. I was excited to start reading it.

Caroline is on her dream vacation. London England. However she is alone. The day before the trip to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary she found out that her husband had been cheating on her. She was devastated. in 1791, Nella makes poison for women to seek revenge on husbands and lovers that have wronged them. Along the way she meets Eliza who comes to get a poison for her mistresses husband. Eliza and Nella are thrust together in way they didn’t know would happen. In the present Caroline finds a jar at low tide that came from Nella’s shop. Caroline sets out to find where the jar came from and unearths a truth that has been hidden for a long time. This book was so good. I caught myself sneak reading it at times during the day. I binged read the last section which was about 35% of the book.

I really loved the authors writing style. I was kept engaged the entire story. I was really intrigued with the Nella and Eliza storyline. I really wanted more of there story. While I liked Caroline’s storyline as well but the other one was my favorite. I spent all of Caroline’s storyline mad at her husband for treating her the way she did. The ending had me so happy with the Nella and Eliza storyline. I was happy with Caroline’s as well but was sad for her at the same time. She thought she had her life planned out but I am happy with what happened with her instead. I cheered her when she took control back with her life and followed a dream. I will be waiting for this authors next book, I will certainly read anything else she writes.

Unfortunately I DNF this book. It did not grasp my interest and the pace seemed very slow even though I had seen the positive reviews and it sounded like my kind of book! It was a tough decision to put this one down but after three months of trying to finish it I decided not to finish.

Thank you, NetGalley, Park Row, and Sarah Penner, for the ARC of The Lost Apothecary. The Lost Apothecary uses an alternating timeline structure to tell the story of three females, Caroline, Nelly, and young Eliza. The story centers around an apothecary dating back to the 1700s, owned by Nella. This apothecary specializes in dispensing poison to women eager to dispose of the men in their lives.
The current timeline centers around Caroline, who is devastated to discover her husband is cheating on her. While they were meant to spend their ten-year wedding anniversary in a London, Caroline makes the trip alone as she tries to make sense of her crumbling marriage. While in London, she joins a group on a guided tour and comes across a tiny, old apothecary vial near the riverbank. Caroline, a lover of history and research, sets out to discover the secrets of the past, leading her to learn the truth about Nella and her poisonous remedies sold to women who men have wronged. Caroline also learns about Eliza, a young girl who met Nella as she was sent to pick up a remedy, and she becomes enthralled by the work Nella does.
This story kept me engaged the entire time. I did not predict the ending, and I loved it. I highly recommend this book.

Medicine is not the only thing one can ask from an apothecary

This piece of historical fiction doesn’t follow a classic format with two stages set: one taking place in 18th century London, and one happening in modern days. The back and forth between the setting is timed perfectly and I enjoyed uncovering both parallel stories as the events unfolded and tied into each other!

It was very exciting to discover the history of the apothecary through the eyes of the modern day protagonist, and pseudo-historian, as she uncovers more and more information about it.

I was very touched by the lives of all three central characters in this book: the present-day woman having marriage issues and a feeling of being unfulfilled with her career, the 18th century young girl entering womanhood who still believes in ghosts and spirits, and finally, the lone wolf apothecary seeking to help women by providing poisons (and the occasional remedies). This books brings their stories together impeccably and manages to bring them all to perfect resolution.

Even though this novel feels complete, I now wish I could read a separate novel or a collection of short-stories about other women whose lives were impacted by the supportive actions of the apothecary. Perhaps viewed through the eyes of the historian as she dissects the records in the apothecary’s register.

All in all, an exciting novel of intrigue and mystery that unfolds at a very satisfying pace through the perspective of three women with very different and yet very similar lives.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the author, the publishers and the NetGalley team for providing me with an Advanced copy. I cherished the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! Lovely, engaging story that alternates between 1700s London and present day London.

I loved how the storylines intertwined and connected. I am a mood reader and this was the perfect book for right now. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next to Nella, Caroline and Eliza.

I also love the gorgeous cover, so beautiful.

Strong female characters and suspenseful, I could not have enjoyed it more. Thank you @netgalley and @parkrowbooks for the gifted copy!

Stories of 2 women, one that wants to remain hidden, the other to discover herself; set in 2 different eras, in London 1791 and present day.

Nella inherited an apothecary from her mother, having learnt all of her trade secrets for various types of potions and their uses. While at one time, the potions created were for healing, fate intervened and Nella was set down a different path. She was able to offer women a way of their marriages, if they so desired.

In present day, Caroline, was to celebrate her 10 year wedding anniversary with a much anticipated trip to London. The day before they are set to leave, she discovers that her husband had been cheating on her. She makes a bold decision and decides to take the trip on her own. She makes a decision to do what she wants to do , to rediscover her interests and passions.

On one of her first nights there she is offered a chance to go mudlarking. Fascinated by history and a chance to do something on her own, she decides to give it a try. A group of people would meet on the banks of the Thames river and look for debris that would wash up on the shore. Caroline finds a blue bottle with an carving of a bear on the side. This prompted her to research the bottle’s origins, which uncovered crimes from 200 years ago.

The stories from both timelines were easy to follow and I really enjoyed the pace of which the stories were told and how they followed the same trajectory. As Caroline was discovering herself and uncovering the past, Nella was going through her own challenges of keeping herself and her secrets hidden.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A dual timeline book, set in modern day London, and London of 1791, this novel tells the story of Nella, an woman who has inherited her apothecary from her mother, and carries on the business with a vindictive twist. She sells poisons to women to kill the men who harm them.

In today’s London, Caroline Parcewell finds a vial in the mud on the shores of the Thames, sending her on a search to find more of its story.

While I enjoyed the older story, that of Nella and her apprentice, I was aggravated by Caroline and her story. As she traipses around London, claiming to be a historian, she shows what strikes me as appallingly bad judgement about historical preservation. I think the author intends this to be something of a coming of age story for Caroline, but I really felt like she started out immature and whiny, her self-revelations were forced and unconvincing.

3 stars for the historical timeline. 1 star for the modern timeline. 3 stars for the narration of the audio book.

Nice take on historical women’s issues and medical issues and natural cures. Doctor visits were often political and driven by monetary values, where if a husband had had enough of a wife he’d have her committed for a full range of ills. Making for a vengeful society of women.

This particular apothecary was second generation to knew all the right cures and then turned her focus on helping women get their revenge. Making potions of the most dangerous and deadly outcome.

What I liked the most about this debut author she made all her characters strong, and then boosted them with the story. It’s a light read, no doubt you’ll want a little more on this subject to start a new path of reading.

A marvelous revenge story that alternates between the 18th century and present day. The author weaves the two tales together seamlessly, and the 18th-century story is both an exciting and interesting tale of a female apothecary who exacts revenge on certain of her customers. Great for readers who are not sure they enjoy historical fiction but are interested in dabbling.

This is something a little different for me. I did love it and I did get hooked into this story.
I couldn’t put this one down!!

I do highly recommend this one.

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

This is a historical fiction book with dual timelines that takes place in London. In the late 1700s there was a middle aged woman named Nella who was the proprietress of a secretive apothecary shop. She grew up with it when her mother ran the shop. Back then it was strictly for curative purposes, but once Nella took over the shop after her mother’s death, things eventually took a dark turn. Something sad and tragic happened to Nella, and this twisted the mission of the apothecary shop to something else than originally intended. To operate in a more stealthy manner, there was a false entry room to the establishment that made it appear like there was just an empty room. However, there was a hidden door among the shelves that opened into the actual workroom. Women coming into the shop looking for revenge against their intended male target would leave a note in a receptacle and understand they had to return the next day to pick up their solution. Nella had a heavy, large register where each client’s transaction would be faithfully entered, just as her mother had done before her. One day a young girl named Eliza arrived at the shop to fetch an order on behalf of the mistress she worked for. This fateful meeting was the start of a meaningful relationship between these two.

In the present day timeline, Caroline has been married for ten years. She and her husband were meant to go on a dream trip to London to celebrate. However, she had found out only days before that he had been cheating on her with someone at work. This shattered Caroline’s plans to finally think about having children, and also called so much of her life decisions into question. She settled for working at her parents’ family business instead of following her dream of college at Cambridge in England. Caroline had a penchant to study history, but deferred to her husband’s desire to stay in Ohio for his job. Caroline decided to still go on the trip, but to think about things on her own and find herself. This opened up a major pandora’s box when she first arrived in England and was invited to go mudlarking. This involved looking for debris that had washed up on the banks of the Thames River. She found a blue bottle with an intriguing carving of a bear on the side. This prompted her to research the bottle’s origins, which uncovered crimes from 200 years ago.

I found the dual timelines equally engaging, since they paralleled each other’s angst and worked in tandem to solve a mystery. There were a couple of spots in the present day storyline that I found a little hard to swallow, but ultimately found it quite a pleasant and poignant ride.

After learning of a shocking betrayal from her husband, Caroline takes a trip to London alone to take stock of her life. By chance, she joins a group scavenging along the River Thames and makes an astonishing find: a medicine vial believed to be over two hundred years old. Caroline sets out to research who the vial belonged to and learns the fascinating history behind it. Readers of this captivating debut novel accompany Caroline into the past and meet Nella, a solo apothecary whose specialty is concocting deadly mixtures to be served to men who wrong women. Nella operates under two simple rules: her poisons must never be used on women; and the names of both the purchaser and her intended male victim must be recorded in Nella's secret register. When a member of the aristocracy seeks to have her husband's mistress killed, she sets into motion a series of events that will forever change their lives. Told in alternating voices and switching between the past and the present, this book is sure to be a hit with fans of intrigue and historical fiction.

*A March 2021 Staff Pick, Chicago Public Library

This was a clever and intriguing piece about a female apothecary that secretly dispenses poisons to aggrieved women. The book alternates between the 1790s and present date with a juxtaposition of two worlds, Nella and Caroline. While the premise of this book is fascinating, it felt slow at times & lacked depth. I wanted to know more about these women, their journey & their stories. Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable read & one I could easily see becoming a sequel!

Many thanks to NetGalley & Harlequin for an advance copy in exchange for a fair & honest review.

I loved this one! I remember seeing the description awhile back and adding it to my TBR but not really thinking anything of it. However, I picked it up and didn't want to put it down. I loved the way the stories intersected without it being too "ughh". Caroline is in London in the present day and finds a vial that she wants to investigate where it came from, as she loves the history of people.

The vial is from an old apothecary and we get the points of view from Nella, the apothecary owner and Eliza, who is a 12-year-old girl who comes into the apothecary shop. All three points of view were compelling and I wanted to know more as the story kept going on. There is a side story with Caroline and her husband, but that fell on the back burner.

This is a mix of mystery and historical fiction, and the writing is just done so well. Highly recommend.

Nella, in her apothecary, dispenses tonics to cure the ails of women but also poisons to be used by women to kill those men who they feel have wronged them. An interesting concept but the story moved slower than I had hoped.

I absolutely loved this book! The duel timeline narrative was done seamlessly and kept me engaged the entire time. I particularly enjoyed the 3 different narrators giving each character their own voice and made each one of them stand out. This book is so many things in one- historical fiction, strong female characters, mystery and a bit suspenseful.

This truly is a “read in one sitting” kinda book, Fantastic. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This was an interesting and different historical fiction. I loved the idea of an apothecary dispensing poisons to help other women. I enjoyed all of the POVs and just wanted to hug all of these women. Each had a way different story and I liked how the author weaved them together at the end. If you’re looking for something different historical fiction wise, I recommend checking this one out.