If you want a good witchy/apothecary story that isn't young adult; this is definitely your book. Two stories combine though they are separated centuries from each other. Carolina in present day comes to London to clear her mind after finding out her husband of 10 years has been having an affair. She approaches the trip with sadness but also a fresh perspective on where she wants her life to go moving forward. Fast forward back to mid 1700's and Nella, an apothecary owner who brews tinctures for wronged women to give to their husbands, is approached by young Eliza who has an eager interest to learn of magic. The two end up striking up an unique friendship and embarking on their own journey.

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was too good! I loved the fact it had two narrators to showcase Nella and Eliza in their British accents and Caroline in her American accent. The speed of the book is quick, so when you get to a point where you just can't wait for the answer, Sarah Penner gives you the info you need. The ending left me very fulfilled and just wanting to dive into more history.

Thank you Sarah Penner, Harper Audio, Harlequin Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Sarah Penner’s debut novel is imaginative, atmospheric and captivating. The dual timeline story (alternating between present day and late 18th century London) sucked me into the mystery surrounding a series of unsolved murders dating back over two hundred years ago.

The story follows an American woman, Caroline, on vacation in London as she deals with a personal heartbreak. She finds a welcome distraction when she happens upon a historical artifact which leads her on a quest to learn the story behind it. Her research rekindles her passion for history and makes her reevaluate her life choices.

In the alternate timeline we follow 12 year old house maid Eliza whose path intertwines with 41 year old apothecary owner Nella who secretly helps women seek vengeance on men who have wronged them.

I preferred the timeline in the 18th century because it explored the lives of girls and women whose stories we will never know about because history did not record them in any meaningful way.

The present day timeline fell a little flat for me because I didn’t feel an emotional connection to Caroline despite the fact that I was cheering her on her quest to solve the mystery of the “apothecary killer”.

I recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction about the lives of girls and women. It’s an entertaining and easy read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. I was not quite sure how the two stories, one in the present day and one in the 1700"s, would come together, but Penner did a great job. I highly recommend this book.

A very special thanks to NetGally and Harper Audio for sharing this AMAZING Arc with me for my honest review. Sarah Penner's debut book has been excited to see what she has in store for her next novel. This mystery kept me guessing the whole time. With dual timelines that was intertwined beautifully kept me on the edge of my seat.

In the late 1700's, Nella runs a secret apothecary shop where women leave letters asking her for poison to kill a man in their lives. She records their names and the tinctures she uses. One night a 12 year old Eliza comes to make a request for her mistress. Nella and Eliza end up becoming old friends as their lives entangle.

In the present day, Caroline has caught her husband cheating on her. They were due an anniversary trip to London. Caroline decides to travel alone. On her first day there she goes mudlarking, which she finds a blue potions bottle with a bear mark on the side. Finding this bottle sets her off on a journey of a lifetime.

Caroline is reeling after discovering her husband had an affair and embarks on their London anniversary vacation alone. While meandering through the city she discovers mudlarking -- a hobby of discovering objects in the mud of the Thames. The first meaningful find Caroline has is a small vial with a bear etched on it.

The vial comes from an apothecary in the late 1700s run by Nella, the daughter of an herbalist. Her mother created cures for maladies, but Nella expanded the business and also sells poisons for women to escape evil men.

Eliza is sent by her mistress to procure poison for the man of the house when his wandering eye lands on the twelve-year-old servant. Eliza is enchanted by the apothecary and asks Nella to teach her more about poisons.

The story is told in turns by Caroline, Nella, and Eliza as their lives and connections with the apothecary unfold. Before the story ends, each woman must confront the dangerous consequences of their actions.

The three narrators of the audiobook sound so different that it is easy to imagine each woman reading her story. Eliza's narrator captures her youth and innocence, and Nella's narrator captures the spirit of the world-weary woman. Caroline's narrator sounds more modern, making it easy to imagine her in the present-day.

Recommended for fans of historical fiction, especially Anglophiles and those who enjoy historical women's fiction.

First off I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to listen to this audiobook before hitting the shelves!

This book was so entertaining and emotional. You follow three points of view. One in present day and Two in the the late 1700s London. Sarah Penner created characters that I fell in love with easily. My favorite was Eliza a 12 year old sent by her employer to retrieve poison from a hidden Apothecary. I very much enjoyed the storyline from both time periods and how they synced up perfectly. Naturally there was a happy ending and who doesn't love a happy ending.

The discovery of histroy was engaging and I loved every twist and turn along the way. Thank you for this gem Sarah.

Two time periods. Three women. All intertwined.
Present Day: After her husband’s affair, Caroline travels to London to have some alone time. She joins a mud larking group and finds an old mysterious vile at the bottom of the river. Using her love of history and literature, she heads to the library to research and find out anything about the antique vile.
Late 1700’s: Nella owns an apothecary shop, down back alley, that she inherited from her mother. All of her concoctions are sold underground and she is only there to help women. Women have come to her in cases where they need to rid of their husbands because of abuse, affair, name it all, and Nella will dispense a poison to help the women. She will not use her poisons against women in any form and she stands strongly on that belief.
Late 1700’s: Eliza, a twelve-year-old, is sent away from her family to work as a house maid for a wealthy family in London. She is sent to Nella’s apothecary to bring back a tincture for her mistress’s husband.
I love how the stories intertwined going back and forth between present day and the late 1700’s. The character development was wonderful as all three grew and evolved over the course of the story. All three of these women learned to stand up for themselves and take control of their lives. It is a story about friendship, secrets, betrayal and courage. The story itself was wonderful. This was a truly amazing debut and I cannot wait to see what Penner comes up with next! I am a historical fiction lover and this one is definitely at the top!
The audiobook was well done! I loved that three different narrators were used and it really helped knowing which character you were following.
Thank you netgalley for my advanced readers copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s 1791 in London and in a secret apothecary shop on Back Alley we meet the mysterious proprietor, Nella. Nella uses the same ingredients her mother before her used for good to help women kill men that have wronged them. When Nella meets a young charge (Eliza Fanning) seeking help for her mistress, neither knew how much their chance encounter would change their lives. Intertwined is the story of Caroline, a woman on a London vacation for her 10th wedding Anniversary. Unfortunately, she’s on that vacation alone. With time on her hands and a background degree in history, she is suddenly knee deep in a mystery after she discovers a very old blue apothecary bottle while mudlarking near the River Thames. What’s the story behind bottle?? She quickly delves in to find that out. Through her search, she not only finds out the answers to her questions about that little blue bottle, but also the answers to some much needed questions involving her own life. What a riveting, magical debut novel!! Completely unique with a cast of unforgettable characters and voiced by a cast of exceptional narrators, this book was extremely difficult to walk away from!

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a fascinating book told in dual timelines about a vigilante apothecary who helps women enact revenge on the men who have wronged them and a historian who uncovers the story centuries later.

This is a mystical tale with a feminist twist, and it kept me guessing until the very end.

Author Sarah Penner narrates this audiobook, and the run time for this novel is 10 hours and 18 minutes.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

18th century London, there is a shop that sells poison to women whose husbands are unfaithful. Nella has only 2 rules, she must write down the name of every woman who poisons their husband and rule number two, the poison must never be used on another woman.

Eliza is a 12 year old who goes to Nellas shop to get a bottle of poison for her mistress. She becomes an apprentice and helps Nella around the shop. Eliza makes a grave error that has Nella on edge.

Caroline is present day in London when she stumbles across a tiny vile with a bear etched on it. She decides since she is on her anniversary without her cheating husband she will track down where the bottle came from. She finds everything she is looking for and then some.

The audio version follows all 3 of these woman and their stories. I am so very thankful I was able to listen to the advanced version. This book has been on my TBR since it was announced last year!

This review is for the audiobook. 🎧 "The Lost Apothecary" is part historical fiction, part mystery, and part women's fiction. An 18th century apothecary—a poisoner of men who've done wrong—and her apprentice anchor the historical storyline, and a modern day historian who has learned her husband has cheated on her carries the "now" storyline. Despite the seemingly dark topic of vengeful poisoning, this book is a light and easy read. The three narrators (for the three POVs) seem to be having fun with this story and give it a strongly dramatic flair. Great debut by Sarah Penner, whose prose evokes London past and present and three women seeking their purpose and how to fulfill it.

Caroline is ready to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary when she stumbles on some information that has her taking off to London to enjoy anniversary trip alone. Once a history major, she decides to try out mudlarking where she finds a centuries old apothecary jar with the symbol of a bear. She decides to do some research on this object. Meanwhile in the late 1700s, Nella is in her hidden closet brewing tinctures that help her clients rid themselves of abusive or otherwise awful men. When a client sends a 12 year old servant for a "remedy" - a series of events is set into motion that could threaten the lives of many women. There are many parallels to Nella's and Caroline's stories, regrets about the paths not chosen and how their lives are impacted by their secrets.
This is a beautifully written story with a gorgeous cover. It is told from the perspectives of Caroline, Nella, and the 12 year old Eliza. I found this to be a compelling, slow moving story that kept my attention throughout.
The audio narration was somewhat uneven - the one who voiced Nella's story - the narration was so incredibly slow and monotone that I had to speed it up to at least 1.25 - but then I would have to slow it back down again when it changed narrators for Caroline and Eliza's stories. This, of course, took me out of the story which affected my overall enjoyment.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Lost Apothecary by Susan Penner. This was a very enjoyable audiobook. I loved the 2 different storyline. The narrator was very good too. Thank you!

A few chapters in, I ended up noticing that this was the second book featuring women acting against "bad men" that I was reading at the same time. In the other book The Lady Upstairs, they were conning them and getting money from them (for the most part) but in this historical mystery/thriller, The Lost Apothecary is determined to help women by giving them special drinks & poisons if the need to kill an abusive husband (among other things) arises. However, when a plan doesn't turn out the way she expected, she and the girl who helps her are in danger of being found out. I loved that we also followed in present time a young woman searching for the truth of what happened while dealing with a not so great husband of her own. She'll search the truth that was kept by this Apothecary that she doesn't know the name of.

Overall, this book started out slowly but after a little while, I got invested in the story and its characters and from there, it was a really good book. I ended up loving it and if the author publishes anything else, I'll be interested in checking it out!

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

This was the story of three women: Nelly and Eliza in 18th century London and Caroline today... the Apothecary made potions and tinctures to help woman escape from their horrible partners or situations, but swore never to harm a woman. Nella’s assistant, Eliza, made an error and set off a series of events. Caroline’s husband was just caught cheating on her and she went alone on a vacation to explore London. I liked flipping back between the stories and loved the ending! Lorna Bennett’s narration was perfect! Thanks @netgalley for the ARC!

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner and narrated by: Lorna Bennett, Lauren Anthony, and Lauren Irwin is a great dual timeline historical fiction novel.

This book weaves a tale of three characters: Nella, the owner of a hidden word-of-mouth apothecary in 1791, Eliza, a 12 year old who’s life crosses paths with Nella, and current-day Caroline.

I enjoyed the concept of the mysterious and dark shop and its owner Nella that helped women right some of the wrongs that have been done to them and how her story weaved with Eliza’s. I also like how Caroline’s life was able to be pieced into the past story lines as well.

I loved the idea uniting the women that they were all trying to figure out not only their own lives, but also how to find some control in a seemingly powerless situation. The way the author weaved these women together was impressive. I enjoyed the suspense and mystery as well.

The audiobook was enjoyable as there were several narrators that kept the characters separate, unique, and fresh.

All in all a great and addictive read.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Harper Audio for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

This is the story of two women: Caroline, who is in London where she was scheduled to celebrate her tenth wedding anniversary before she found out her husband was cheating on her. So now she's made it to London alone and stumbles on an apothecary vial near the river which then sets her off on a journey to figure out where it came from. And Nella, an apothecary in late 1700s who has moved away from her mother's traditional apothecary shop to a much more nefarious one where she sells poisons for women to kill to be free of the men in their lives. The book goes back and forth between the two women as you see Nella's story unfold and Caroline's story colliding with it.

While I enjoyed both women's perspectives, I liked my time with Nella more and found myself looking forward to those chapters. This is not your modern mystery where everyone is over the top and there are giant twists and all the characters are unreliable. This is old-school mystery that develops its characters, brings the setting into the reader's mind and imagination, slowly unwinds, builds up to some twists to show you life is not as expected and finishes with a very satisfying coming together of the story. Much more my kind of mystery.

with gratitude to harper audio and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

“All that I’ve lost.” It weighed on me now, a lifetime of misery, like the raw earth pressing into an open grave.”

Past and present are beautifully interwoven in this dramatic historical fiction that hosts a sprinkling of magic and mystery. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner takes place in dual timelines; one in late 18th century London exploring the bittersweet life of an apothecarist and her attempts to serve justice for women who’ve been wronged, and the woman in the present who begins to unravel the mysterious apothecarist’s past. A single vial connects the women, condemning one and freeing another.

Told by three narrators, Caroline in present time, planning a celebratory 10th anniversary trip to London with her husband, ends up traveling alone when she finds that he’s not quite the prince she thought he was and, in the past, Nella, once a healer who through her own pain and loss has turned to assisting other women with problematic men and Eliza, a twelve-year-old Lady’s maid who becomes Nella’s friend and assistant.

I primarily listened to this on audio, thank you Harper Audio & I was generously gifted a physical copy, too, my thanks to Park Row Books, and this was an amazing way to soak in this beautifully written story. The full cast narration is done splendidly by Lauren Anthony, Lorna Bennett, and Lauren Irwin. Each narrator giving depth and personality to the characters, making them unique and unforgettable.

At heart, this is a story of women helping women, and women determining their own story, apart from the need for any other controlling influences. I saw this in Nella’s story and in Caroline’s but each was significant to the era they lived in. Beautifully plotted and quickly paced, any fan of the genre is not going to want to miss out on this.

Book 16 towards my goal of 240! 5/5 stars for this dual timeline read! Loved that it switched up from Historical England to present day! Loved the cover. Absolutely loved the apothecary MC and her friend! Loved the cover! Dual timeline and multi POV is my jam! Highly recommend!

**I received this book in exchange for honest review from Netgalley**

I really enjoyed this book so much, I never thought was going to be so magical but at the same time with the right doses of drama that will make this book more intriguing and more appealing.

Nella has been living under the shadows for a long time she was more like a ghost now, a betray made her this way, a betray from the worst person, someone whom she loved so much and believed blindly, but circumstances weren't the great ones and she had to move on bowing to help many women with similar experiences, she will help them to recover their happiness and dignity. even if that meant poisoning a few of these bad men.

The Apothecary came with rules, rules Nella's mother was so determined to keep in place no matter what

Rule 1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule 2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

The lost apothecary is the story of three different women in a different time and ages that were suffering from the same betray, the Apothecary store was somehow what links them and made their story merge into one.

Caroline was ready to celebrate 10 years of marriage but she didn't know her celebration was about to be postponed or better said cancel thanks to something she found out before their trip. she leaves alone hoping she will find an answer or a solution to her pain, not knowing this trip will change her life forever especially when she found the Apothecary. she is not ready to forgive him but she is ready to move on.

Eliza Fanning a 12-year-old with a very special heart that will save Nella and so many ways, Eliza was an amazing character for me she was the strongest of the three even if she was so young she was a character that I really love. strong, bold, and sometimes more aware of things that you can expect from her young age.

Eliza came to Nella's life when Nella was very lost, she was determined to only provide help to other women in need, but life played tricks on her and she was not ready to break that promise. Eliza helped Nella in so many ways to recover the faith and the trust she lost a long time ago but at the same time, Eliza came to fill something in Nella's heart that has been so empty.

The narrations were amazing Lorna Bennett, Lauren Anthony, Lauren Irwin gave so much depth to the story and the characters making the book more enjoyable and really bringing everything so alive.

Overall it was a great book, the story of three women facing the challenges of being in love and betrayal, three women fighting to recover themselves in a world made for men.