Good Reads Challenge Book Review: The Lost Apathocary
Whoo …It’s Friday People!
“History doesn’t record the intricacies of women’s relationships with one another; they’re not to be uncovered.”
– Sarah Penner, The Lost Apathocary
Hello my friends! I hope you’re doing well, taking care of your body as well as your mind, drinking plenty of water, enjoying some fun activities, and checking in with friends and family.
It’s time for another book review as I tackle more books from my 2023 Good Reads Challenge. Today I’m reviewing The Lost Apathocary by Sarah Penner.
The Review
Title | The Lost Apathocary
Author | Sarah Penner
Pages | 301
Published | March 2021
Genre | Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy
GR Rating | 3.76
Purchase | Amazon
Synopsis
A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them – setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.
My Rating & Review (4.00)
I stepped out of my wheelhouse for this novel, but it kept coming across my feed, and when audiobooks become available at the library, you check them out because you never know when they will be available again.
The Lost Apothecary is a novel told from two perspectives (past and present). Still, it revolves around Caroline [our protagonist], who is blindsided by the revelation that her husband, James, had an affair. Caroline was excited about a planned trip to London with her husband as they entertained the thought of planning a family.
from The Lost Apathocary
“To me, the allure of history lay in the minutiae of life long ago, the untold secrets of ordinary people.”
Now traveling alone in London, Caroline does her best at planned activities in the city and decides to go mud larking—hunting the river for old treasures. Through this, she finds an old apothecary bottle that would change everything. Once finding this unknown treasure, the story shifts and would also be told by apothecary Nella Clavinger from the late 1700s. Nella would meet young Eliza Fanning, a servant sent by her mistress to purchase poison to kill her unfaithful husband.
from The Lost Apathocary
“If you want something different, the only person holding you back is you. What is it you love to do?”
I love how these stories parallel through time, showing how this apothecary would continue to help women deal with their unfaithful husbands. Caroline’s husband, James, decides to join her in London as he tries to put the pieces back together to repair their marriage. Meanwhile, Caroline throws herself into researching the apothecary bottle origins, and it’s during this time that she realizes her true passion for history and deciphering the past.
It’s a great story, but it didn’t quite deliver for me and fell flat in a few places as I thought the protagonist would merge with the past of the apothecary. All in all, it is a pretty good read, and it’s checked off my list.
My Good Reads Progress
What books are you reading this summer? Share them in the comments.
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