This story is told in two different time periods, which builds more mystery and intrigue, into a story full of captivating characters, mystery, murder and the power of friendship.

In her debut novel, Sarah Penner, seamlessly weaves together elements of mystery, suspense, and betrayal through the strong character development of women seeking justice and revenge. All this is tied together with a lovely ending, historical notes and a few recipes!

Thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books for the advance copy.

I would highly recommend this book and give it 4 out 5 stars.

I always love a connected dual timeline that spans centuries, especially with strong female characters. Both storylines were great but I did lean more into the historical one: the apothecary shop and the relationship between Nella and her apprentice Eliza. As for the present day storyline with Caroline, I was so happy that the author didn't go where I thought she might have been going for a minute (I don't want to give any spoilers.) This was written in the style of several magical realism books I like (The Little Shop of Found Things, The Glamourist, etc.) but the potions in this book were all too real. The perfect amount of cozy, mixed with scandal, history, and strong-willed women, The Lost Apothecary is sure to be the first of many successful novels for Sarah Penner.

It’s publication dayyyy 👏🏻💞👏🏻

“The best apothecary was one who knows intimately the despair felt by her patient, whether in the skin, the mouth, the womb, or the heart. And though I could not relate to this woman’s place in society—for there were no gatehouses or footmen to be seen in Back Alley—I knew, firsthand, her inner turmoil. Heartache is shared by all, and favors no rank.”

In 1790’s England, an apothecary, horribly wronged by a man she thought loved her, vows to help liberate women from the men who have harmed them. But there are rules. Rule 1-the poison can never be used against another woman. Rule 2-the names of the murderer and her victim must be documented in the register. When 12 year old Eliza finds herself in Nella’s apothecary shop on behalf of her mistress, these two women set in motion events that will have a ripple effect spanning to present day. Told in a dual timeline, present day Caroline is an aspiring historian. While walking the river Thames, she finds an old apothecary vial etched with a bear. She is intrigued and starts digging, finding information about unsolved “apothecary murders.” Will she be able to uncover that which has been hidden for centuries?

Five big, beautiful stars for this glorious historical fiction novel. This is a debut?! Wow! I loved following the story of these strong women. I definitely enjoyed the storyline with Nella and Eliza and the apothecary more than Caroline’s story. History may have you believing that women were always submissive and under a mans thumb, but this story gives me hope that women had a voice, even in those times.

If you love historical fiction, female empowerment, and even elements of murder mysteries, pick this one up! It will not disappoint.

I was gifted the audio version as well as print, and the audio version was fantastic! I found myself listening more than reading. The three different narrators really bring distinction to these ladies, giving them life and a personality that lacks when there is just one narrator.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin, Harper Audio and the author for these ARC’s in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row for a review copy of this book. Once I heard the premise of this book, I was incredibly excited to pick it up. There is a dual timeline from 18th century London and present day London, a apothecary with a revengeful clientele, and an innocent mistake that changed everything.

I absolutely adored this book! It explored the importance of strong female relationships and standing up for what you want. Both timelines were engaging and suspenseful.

4.5 / 5

I love the images of old apothecaries in Georgian England, with herbs and spices and strange creatures floating in jars all lined up on the shelves.
In Penner’s dark and riveting debut, she paints a vivid picture not only of an 18th-century apothecary but of women who have decided to take matters into their own hands.

It’s 1791 in England and Nella Clavinger is at work when a young girl named Eliza comes to her apothecary with a request for her mistress. It is another “special” request. Nella has taken on the mantle of helping women who require not her healing medicinal aids, but those of a poisonous nature. She will only help women, to rid them of men who are adulterous or abusers; she will do no harm to women. But a misstep by young Eliza may cost Nella and others everything.

Present-day England: Caroline Parcewell has come to England on what should have been her tenth-anniversary trip. But after discovering her husband’s affair, she came alone. A lover of history, Caroline begins nosing around about a small vile she found in the banks of the Thames River. She discovers a link to an old newspaper with articles about an “apothecary killer.” She decides to do some investigation into this fascinating woman. But just when Caroline is feeling confident and brave again, her husband shows up in England.

I loved how this book was about murder and intrigue, but it also had deep threads of friendship as well. Both Nella and Caroline were strong women, but they had to admit they needed help, and a friend was there for them.

TW: poisonings, deaths, suicide attempts

Thank you to @harpercollins @parkrowbooks and @netgalley for this digital arc.

The Lost Apothecary is a beautiful novel about friendship, betrayal, revenge, and the power of women. It is told in three different POVs and two different times: Present-day Caroline and eighteenth-century Nella and Eliza. Sarah Penner’s writing is remarkable, Penner transports you right where she wants you and makes you believe you are actually there. Our main characters are all very complex and their complexity brings to them life in ways that many authors can fail to do. I am not a fan of historical fiction or dual timelines, but Penner excels at both in this novel. Once you pick it up, it is hard to put this book down. Filled mystery and suspense you will continuously turn pages trying to find out what is going to happen next. In both timelines we have unexpected life-altering friendships between women and power that comes from women helping women. Penner shows the good that happens when women band together and horror that can happen when we don’t.
The book is a little under 400 pages and after the first few chapters I had so many questions and had no idea if Penner would be able to answer all of them by the end of the book in a satisfying way, but she does. Penner keeps a lot of answers close to her chest and slowly doles them out in such an interesting way. The two main plots alone are very intriguing and the way that Penner merges them together, uses one to influence the other is incredible. The Lost Apothecary will keep you on your toes until the very end. If you enjoy thrillers, betrayal, the importance of trusting oneself, and empowering friendship between women this is the book for you.
*I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.*

Caroline is spending her 10th wedding anniversary trip alone in London. She needs this time to digest just what her husband has done. Caroline found out he was having an affair right before the trip. She left without him. She just needs her space!

While Caroline is wandering around London and taking in the scenery, she comes across a group of people getting together to go mudlarking. On a whim, she decides to join them. She ends up finding and antique bottle that sends her on a quest.

As most of you know, give me a book that I learn something and I am hooked. I have never heard of mudlarking…Yep, that is a thing. It is digging in the mud on a river, like the Thames, to find ancient artifacts. This sent me down a rabbit hole. I started researching and watching videos. This is now on the bucket list.

This story is told in two different time periods, present day and the 18th century. It is part family drama and part mystery. I was captivated all the way through. The characters, the time period, the science, the reasons behind the murders, the old maps with the clues…oh boy! What a book!

Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 a journey. ⁣
⁣
Have you ever read a book where you felt like you were a part of the story? Does this sound strange? I mean, like you truly resonated with all the main characters that you felt like you were in the pages with them? Ok, well, those are my feelings with this one. I was captivated from the get-go and I knew this was going to be one of 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.⁣
⁣
The story follows three women: Nella (the owner of The Apothecary), Eliza (a 12 year old maid who stumbles into the apothecary on behalf of her mistress) and Caroline (a present day woman dealing with infidelity). You travel back and forth, from the 1700’s to the present day and you see how these three women’s lives are all intertwined. ⁣
⁣
It truly is a beautiful book. I don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but I will let you know that this book is a mix of female empowerment, revenge and freedom. This was a fantastic historical novel, and I’m not a historical type of girl, but I was hooked. I enjoyed the past and present timelines, mother/daughter like relationship of Nella and Eliza and Caroline’s journey to freedom and the discovery of her own self. ⁣
⁣
𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?⁣
⁣
I would say this book is for everyone. If you like to read and you are looking for a captivating book, this is for you. It doesn’t matter what your genre of choice is, this book is such a wonderful mix of many genres. For me this one was a ★★★★★.⁣

“I began to feel a fool for doubting Eliza’s claim that ghosts resided all around her. Perhaps I’d been wrong when I told her these spirits were only remnants of memories, creations of an invigorated imagination.”

The Lost Apothecary is a historical fiction novel about a poisonous herbalist.

In the early timeline (1790s) Nella lost her mom young, after her mother passed on the secrets of pharmacology. Yet Nella took her mother’s apothecary business in another direction and started helping women kill lousy men. One day, a 12-year-old rolls into her pharmacy on behalf of her employer who wants to off her husband. Miss Eliza is feisty and quick but also a bit careless.

In the present day timeline, Caroline caught her man cheating and took off for their 10th anniversary trip on her own to London. She’s supposed to be thinking about whether she wants to stay in her marriage but who doesn’t get distracted by some good, old fashioned mudlarking, or seeming out hidden treasures in a river.

The book weaves together a plot about how safe medicines can be toxic and deadly if too much is taken. Then there is the more cerebral theme of losing a child and wanting a child. It’s a great debut if not a little clunky on the execution. The husband character was very two dimensional and a total jerk; Caroline was sketched out in more detail and felt more real as a result.

I absolutely loved this beautiful Historical Fiction. This is exactly what I am looking for when I want Historical Fiction. Plus this book brings us, three strong badass women.

The story is told from three points of view and two timelines. Nella and Eliza telling from the past and Caroline from the present.

As Caroline visits London on what’s supposed to be her tenth-anniversary trip she stumbles upon a mudlarking tour and during the adventure finds herself an interesting treasure. A glass apothecary bottle. As Caroline's curiosity increases she dives deeper into the secrets of the little blue bottle with a bear etched on it to discover a hidden past that’s yet to be uncovered.

Nella runs the apothecary shop on 3 Back Alley during the late 1700s. After her mother's passing, she inherits the shop along with its patrons. However, unfortunate circumstances occur and leave Nella with a bitter taste for revenge.


I had a hard time putting this book down. I brought it around with me everywhere so I could grab it and pick up where I left off. There is such magic to the stories told. How they are seamed together effortlessly. The past combined with the present and how they relate to one another.

I am shocked and in awe that this is Sarah's debut novel. I plan on reading more from this author. I truly loved this so much about this book. The story. The characters. The secrets! There was mystery, suspense, betrayal. It was wonderful!

Thank you Park Row and Net Galley for this book. I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for a truthful review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sarah Penner’s debut novel is everything I love in a Historical Fiction novel— a story that not only weaves in historical facts, that keep you wanting to know more, but also a story that completely draws you in.

This book was so hard to put down! I kept wanting to google more information of the historical facts—but didn’t want to leave the story.

The story follows three women :

Nella - (London, 1791) A female Apothecary who secretly dispenses poison to women to use on the husbands who have wronged them.

Caroline- (Present Day) Caroline is in London on a trip to celebrate her tenth wedding anniversary, but she is not with her husband as she recently found out he has been unfaithful to her. While on the trip Caroline finds an old apothecary vial that leads her to investigate the unsolved “Apothecary Murders” from over two centuries ago.

Eliza- (London, 1791) 12 year old Eliza makes the trip to the apothecary and strikes up a friendship with Nella setting into motion events that will not only jeopardize Nella’s business and her clients, but also her life as well.

The stories of these three women intertwine and will keep you guessing to the very end.


Quality of Writing 8/10

The quality of writing in this book was good. I wrote a few passages down that were beautifully written. If you are afraid of Historical Fiction because of dense historical facts I think this book does a great job of being easy to read and comprehend, but tied well to historical facts.

Pace 9/10

This book was paced very well. When switching time periods sometimes I find myself favouring one time line to the other but both were written really well and had good balance.

Plot Development 9/10

The plot development was also great. I didn’t find any big plot holes or any characters that felt like place holders. I did find one scene that felt like it was a bit unrealistic to the rest of the story but overall I felt the story flowed well.


Characters 10/10

The characters were also really well developed. I found myself connected to the characters and hoping for certain outcomes. I felt the book handle topics with the characters very well and felt authentic.

Enjoyability 10/10

I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt the story was well balanced with historical fact and character storylines. It was easy to read and understand. The twists and turns kept me from wanting to put the book down.

Thought Provoking 9/10

Not only did I want to keep looking up more information on apothecaries during this time period but the book also provided more information at the end of the story. In the back of the book you will find the apothecary’s recipes and research on deaths during this time period.

I think the author also did a good job of showing some of the issues women during this time struggled with, such as woman’s health issues and the ownership of their bodies.

Ease of Reading/ Reading Comprehension 10/10
I felt this book was easy to read and understand the story.

Ending 10/10
I loved the ending of the book. I felt it suited the storylines and it felt like a natural ending of the story.

I would highly recommend this for your next read and will definitely be watching Sarah Penner for future releases.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner was one of my most anticipated reads in 2020, and I was ecstatic when I got approved for the ARC from NetGalley. Sadly, it didn't live up to the hype for me, and I had to DNF it.

I've gotten as far as 39% before I put the book down. Neither duel timeline was reaching me. The pacing was slow on both ends. In the present day, a woman is shocked to find out about her cheating husband a couple of days shy of their 10th anniversary. In the past, we are introduced to an aging apothecary and a young, eager girl who wants to be her apprentice in murdering men. Everything sounds like it's going to be juicy! Murder, infidelity, a little bit of mystery ... But even reactions of death and cheating were dull.

Usually, when I'm seeking out historical fiction genres, I expect a version of what could have happened sprinkled in with some factual information. It gives me a chance to research for myself while being entertained with a point of view. From what I've read so far, I didn't feel like I've learned anything and had difficulty connecting with the characters. The story was just underwhelming to me.

I do love a good dual-timeline story! And The Lost Apothecary is quite good. It’s told from the point of view of three main characters: Nella, the titular apothecary, dispensing medicines to heal or to kill; Eliza, who comes to Nella for a permanent remedy to a problem and becomes her assistant, of a sort; and Caroline, a modern-day woman who finds her marriage on shaky ground and who is struggling to find herself.

I really enjoyed this book! The premise drew me in, and the marvelous storytelling kept me hooked. The story isn’t about women getting back at men, so much, although I can see where someone might think that. It’s more about the choices women make and the consequences of those choices, and women finding their path even within the societal expectations of their time.

In Nella’s timeline, 1791, women had very few rights. They couldn’t divorce their husbands for abuse or unfaithfulness. Nella was trying to help women the only way she knew how. When she broke her own rule, that her poisons must never be used against women, that set into motion a devastating chain of events. Eliza wanted to help Nella. In trying to help, she made a choice that brought undesirable attention to Nella’s secret shop.

Claire made the choice, when she got married, to give up on her dreams. She didn’t enroll at Cambridge like she wanted to. Instead, she took the job that provided steady income and supported her husband’s goals. She lost sight of her hopes and dreams in the process. When she found the small vial half-buried in mud, she made a choice to see what she could find out about it. That choice changed the course of her life.

This is a story well told. The ending left me with a little bit of a sense of mystery. What was of this world and what might not be? Not a cliffhanger, just enough of a question to let the reader envision what the future might be like. Delightfully gothic, mysterious, and with characters you will embrace, The Lost Apothecary gets five stars from me. I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books for an advance copy.

In 1791, Nella is an apothecary with a hidden, secret shop from which she dispenses cures strictly for women, and also poisons to women in desperate situations due to the law and custom being thoroughly on the side of men.

Nella lives by two rules: 1) Do no harm to women, and 2) Record the names of both the woman and the victim in her journal. !2-year-old Eliza Fanning comes into the shop to procure poison for Mrs. Amwell, her mistress, to get rid of her husband, who is a very nasty piece of work.

Eliza is fascinated by the shop, and by Nella . . . unfortunately, all does not go smoothly

Framing this historical fancy is a more mundane tale centered around Caroline, who after ten years just discovered that her husband James has been playing around behind her back. Unsure what to do, she goes mudlarking along the edge of the Thames at low tide, and finds a mysterious vial that seems to date to the 1790s.

If you’ve been reading a long time, you can guess some of the rest, though if you are in the mood for a somber, somewhat gothic tale centering around women quietly taking agency into their own hands, you will enjoy watching the expected scenes unfold.

It’s an impressive debut, at its best describing the scenery of 1791 London in cinematic opulence.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Contemporary and historical women’s fiction. Alternating chapters from 1791 and present day.
1791 Eliza, a twelve year servant tasked with killing her employers husband with a poison from the hidden apothecary.
1791 Nella, an aging and sick spinster has been disbursing poisons to women since she lost her own child in death.
Present day Caroline, a woman traveling alone in London after finding out her husband has had an affair. She finds an intriguing glass vial when joining a mudlarking tour on a whim. So begins her search for a lost apothecary.

A journal of adventure and self discovery. Intriguing and easy to read. I found both time frames fascinating and even a bit suspenseful. I also think Caroline found things a little too easy but no one would find hundreds of hours of research fun to read about so it made sense for the story. Loved the ending and resolution.

Excerpt:
“My eyes began to sting as I considered the odds of finding this object in the riverbed: a historical artifact, probably once belonging to a person of little significance, someone whose name wasn’t recorded in a textbook, but whose life was fascinating all the same. This was precisely what I found so enchanting about history: centuries might separate me from whoever last held the vial, but we shared in the exact sensation of its cool glass between our fingers. It felt as though the universe, in her strange and nonsensical way, meant to reach out to me, to remind me of the enthusiasm I once had for the trifling bits of bygone eras, if only I could look beneath the dirt that had accumulated over time.”
Excerpt from The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Get lost in the shadows of London with this historical fiction debut about two wronged women, a young girl, and a deadly, secret apothecary shop.

It’s present-day London and Caroline—an aspirating historian, is unexpectedly alone on her wedding anniversary trip when she discovers a little blue vial by the river’s edge. Curious about the object’s history, she begins her search for the lost apothecary that the city seems to have swallowed whole, centuries ago.

On a wintery day in 1791, Eliza, a young girl on an errand for her mistress, visits the secret shop for the first time—a shop known only to women. Nella, a long-time women’s health expert and secret dispenser of poisons, reluctantly fills the girl’s request for the poison meant for murder. After a small misstep that leads authorities scouring the streets for the “apothecary killer” all of Nella’s efforts to help women from the abuses and uses of men, could sadly come to an end.

This gothic story is told in dueling past and present timelines, and although the women are separated by centuries, their toxic experiences are sadly as old as time. I enjoyed the bit of mystery, and themes of betrayal, feminism, and friendship that populated both storylines and loved how reading this story felt like hunting for treasure.

I had a blast hunting for my own treasures around Seattle for this shoot. I shopped second-hand stores for the bottles, and visited Tenzing Momo (@tenzingmomo), the largest and oldest apothecary on the West Coast for the herbs.

Thank you, @harlequinbooks, @parkrowbooks, and @netgalley for my gifted egalley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the book!
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
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(I'll be posting very similar reviews to my social media accounts tomorrow -March 1st 2021. I'll include the links here as they go live.)

This book was fantastic! Kept me reading through the whole thing and I didn't want to put it down. Easily the best book I've read so far this year.

London, 1790. Nella runs a small apothecary shop for women's maladies. Handed down to her by her mother, she mixes blends to help women with whatever ails them, including nuisance men who need to be...dispatched.

London, Present Day. Caroline has flown over from the U.S on what was supposed to be her Anniversary, but instead is a solo trip after finding out her husband has been unfaithful.

Though centuries apart, there are similarities in the women's stories. We go back and forth between Nella, her assistant Eliza, and Caroline to form a picture of a history long forgotten but still relevant.

Loved this, it's published March 2nd 2021.

The unique premise of the novel is what drew me in and I knew right away I wanted to read it! Penner's debut is easy to read, entertaining, and delightful. I loved following the stories of the women in two different time periods and the mystery of what actually happened to Nella and Eliza kept me turning pages as fast as I could near the end of the story. A great weekend read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy of this book.

First off - the cover is amazing! I was so excited to read the interwoven stories of three strong females searching for adventure, destiny and hope. The conflicts the characters dealt with were nail-biting to say the least. But, I was surprised by the lack of description and character development. Maybe I set my expectations too high after reading the beautifully written synopsis. I thought the story could have included more depth to help the reader immerse themselves fully. I expected some twists and turns but found it to be slightly bland mystery wise. I loved the apothecary storyline but really craved some intense descriptive writing to go along with it.