Bottles of powerful and strange things—tinctures, essences, distillations, herbs. The workroom of the Tofana Apothecary, in 17th century Rome, is full of wonders. Carmela is desperate to learn her mother’s trade but finds the weight of the decisions and the social cost hard to adjust to. Carmela, her mother Giulia, and her mother’s employees Laura and Maria, who are also their chosen family, are under intense scrutiny. So, too, are any men who choose to supply them with herbs. McCullough shows the balancing of needs that a woman like Giulia had to make – to stand up against the church, society, the rules, to help other women. Carmela’s inability to see the bigger picture combines with her desire to do the right thing to jeopardize all of them. The repercussions of her impulsive decisions echo throughout the community.

As with Enter the Body, McCullough wants to uncover the interiority of women whose experiences are not acknowledged and voices not heard. The echoes of the pressures resonate down to women and medical providers today – this is a story that could have been written at any point in history.

I enjoyed this book about a teenage girl striving to learn more about her mother's apothecary and protect the secret of poison production, administered to horrible men. The poetic interludes offered more insight into the feelings of various characters. This book would make a great classroom discussion but I worry about it finding its readers on its own.

I enjoyed reading Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough which is a historical novel in prose and verse. I connected with the female familial relationships between the main characters and also found myself engaged in the story line between Carmela and Violetta. I liked the use of verse between the chapters, though at times I felt they were an interruption from the flow of the story, and sometimes they felt formulaic. This book is a timely read for the politically world we are living in and the issues that affect women universally. The book demonstrates that time might pass, but women's issues remain the same. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read historical fiction and for readers of verse novels.

"A Blood Water Paint-style historical YA in prose and verse from New York Times bestselling author Joy McCullough.

Early Seventeenth-Century Rome.

For as long as she can remember, Carmela Tofana has desperately wanted one thing: to be a part of La Tofana's, her mother's apothecary in Campo Marzio, Rome. When she finally turns sixteen, she's allowed into the inner sanctum: the workroom where her mother and two assistants craft renowned remedies for their customers. But for every sweet-smelling flower extract in the workroom, there's another potion requiring darker ingredients. And then there's Aqua Tofana, the apothecary's remedy of last resort. In all Carmela's years of wishing to follow in her mother's footsteps, she never realized one tiny vial could be the death of them all.

Everything Is Poison is a story of a deadly secret hiding in plain sight and of the women who risk everything to provide care for those with nowhere else to turn."

Oh, feminist and deadly!

A rare five star gem. I enjoyed the author’s first book, but am so happy to see her really hit her stride here. I love Carmela and the women who raised and taught her. We often forget how much girls benefit from exposure to all kinds of women, their unique talents and stories. This book reminds us. I love, love, love the blend of poetry and prose, especially since the poetry becomes a voice of Rome. These little poems give insight into the struggles all people face, regardless of time and place. Such a good plot! Who to trust? Who to help? What unexpected secrets do others have? How to deal with our mistakes? This would be a great book club or lit circle choice. So much to discuss! A excellent read.

This is an interesting historical fiction novel that mixes drama with a bit of female empowerment. While I appreciated the strong characters and the unique look at women in a tough historical context, the ending felt a bit rushed, and I didn’t always connect with the poems scattered throughout.

Joy McCullough is a magician at weaving tales pulled from the past but fully relevant today. She weaves her stories in a way that inhabits your very bones as you read them. This book is a worthy addition to her other works and should be part of any library collection of stories about women and the way we must exist in a world that is so often completely toxic to us.

As a fan of several of McCullough's previous works (Blood Water Paint, Enter the Body), I was definitely already predisposed to love this, too. And yet I was still surprised by how much this dark little tale of female apothecaries working in seventeenth-century Rome affected me. It's one part fascinating glimpse into seventeenth-century medicine (some of which is truly stomach-churning); one part fierce love story between a mother and daughter; and one part sharp commentary on how this family's microcosm of struggle is just a piece of a whole, with McCullough's trademark poetry forming the connective tissue that critiques the way society viewed--and continues to view--women. I found every part of this book to be beautiful, and while I did think the ending was rushed and left something to be desired, the journey it took to get there moved me deeply. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction, novels in verse (though this one isn't exclusively in verse), and anyone who needs to read about women fiercely claiming their power right about now.

This was one of the most enchanting books I have read in a long time, and I am so grateful I was given the opportunity to read it before the publication date.




The Writing style of the author is captivating and completely drew me in. The characterization--oh my--it was so well done I felt like I knew them and could completely sympathize with them. There have always been cases of men abusing their wives and girlfriends, or taking advantage of them. (Of course I do realize it happens the other way around to, but that is not this story!) This book takes a good hard look at situations like that, and I think anyone reading this would feel for all the women making these horrible choices: wrong yes, but they were trapped by the law, the  church and men who were very abusive.

One thing I learned is that Aqua Tofana is a poison and the names  of the characters used in the book were actually women who distributed it. So the story is historical fiction.

I give this 5 stars for it is truly an amazing accomplishment!

This was a really fun read! I enjoyed it the entire time with the little poems as well. Thank you so much for the arc! It was great!

This is coming out at the literally best time. With all the recent talks about with how our political climate is making woman feel like they might need to bring back ways to get rid of men in their lives is really scary. But fiction is supposed to say something even if it isn't real, at least the really great stories do. This touched on so many womans issues in their lives that only they could relate to and gave me chills at times. This book was so thought provoking and makes you ask some really serious questions about tge way that the world is. What's sad is a lot of this stuff is still happening today. It hits hone on a lot of levels and makes me feel seen as a woman. This book is female rage at its peak. It feels so raw and human. One of my favorites of this year to read. I'm so lucky to have received an early copy from Netgalley. I feel so lucky and special.

Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!

Everything is Poison was such a fun read for me. I was hooked within the first couple of chapters and stayed for the plot and characters. I am absolutely positive that many will find this book to be fun and enjoyable.

I think the story does a great job of presenting a well-written conflict within the apothecary. Especially highlighting the dangers of dispensing medicine under the scrutiny and disapproval of the community. While I feel the setting could extend beyond the apothecary, church, and a few other locations, I’m still satisfied with it. What I like most is the characterization, each character is distinct and has their own strengths. I really appreciate Carmela’s development throughout the story, and the ending feels bittersweet. My only downside is that I wish there were fewer poems overall.

Someone send Paris Paloma a copy of this book stat! This was difficult to stop reading, I found myself entranced by the characters. The little poems in between chapters at first seemed to disrupt the story but soon they became as important as the story itself. I support women's rights and women's wrongs.

I absolutely loved this book! The writing style and characters drew me in from the start. The verses in between prose flowed beautifully. The plot was fascinating and this was a great introduction to a 17th century apothecary. The mother/daughter relationship was so relatable even though it’s a different timeframe. Just loved this and can’t wait for others to be able to read! Thanks for the opportunity to read!

enchanting and lovely. i had read a bunch about aqua tofana ages ago, so when i heard about this one i was so in. and it was delicious. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Everything is Poison was excellent. I flew through this book faster than expected because I could not put it down. I knew what Aqua Tofana was, but loved the story around why it was created. The community of women within the walls of this apothecary are complicated, but they are all trying to do their very best for the women that come seeking their services. The story that is woven between Carmela and her mother Giulia is fast paced and interesting from start to finish. Highly recommend this if you want to read about strong female characters.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book.

Overall it was just okay. The poetry chapters scattered throughout were a weird choice and the lead was just so naive yet brilliant? It was a strange dynamic and no one seemed to be full fledged characters. I wanted this to be more than a floaty story that never anchored and took root.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

It is easily a 3.25 stars out of 5
A couple of things that stood out for me right from the get go :
1. The amazing botanical motives at the beginning of every chapter and the fact that the title of the book alludes to something dark and twisty but it's not a very obvious give away.
2. I was hooked from the beginning, the prose flows , is cohesive and creates the ambience of a vintage / medieval inspired Europe where apothecaries could be a part of common life.
The protagonists relationship with her mother and her intense desire to be in her shoes reminded me a lot of my teenage self
Poison is a common theme in several fantasy / fantasy inspired books but this brought in a feeling of familer but kept the mystery

A beautiful YA historical fiction. La Tofana is such a fascinating historical figure and so shrouded in mystery. La Tofana’s daughter Carmela wants nothing more than to be an apothecary like her mother. However, she stumbles upon some of the other things her mother sells and faces the challenge of growing and changing into who she was meant to be. I read this book in a night. It really gripped me. At some points, I grew frustrated with Carmela, but remembering she’s a 16 year old girl helped make it not so bad. This is a great novel to begin your historical fiction journey or to continue it!