The Lost Apothecary Collector's Edition: A Novel

Loved this book. Read it in just over a day. Loads of twists and turns also very informative and interesting.

This is a thoroughly gripping read that I found myself wanting to read whenever I got a spare moment. I enjoyed that each of the chapters ended on mini cliff-hangers which kept the reader wanting to continue even though on many occasions I found myself reading for far longer than initially intended, but these are the best type of books. It isn't a genre that I'd usually choose but there was something about the synopsis and the beautiful cover that drew me in and I'm so glad that it did as this is probably my favourite new-read of 2024 so far and I immediately looked up the authors other work when I had finished reading. The writing in the Victorian sections is atmospheric and you get a sense of what it must have felt like to have been in that era and there was clearly a lot of research put into the book as the tinctures all felt realistic and believable. However the present day sections lack this sense of atmosphere and realism and could have been set anywhere in the world except for there being a couple of London references thrown around. I've seen other reviewers complaining that it wasn't fast-paced enough but I don't think it needed to be, I enjoyed the slower pace of this book and I felt it added to the atmosphere within the past sections as it isn't meant to be fast-paced as the murders took place over several years. I liked that Caroline wasn't a total push-over romance storyline and I enjoyed the narrative about her finding herself after years of pushing down her interests but the sideline of her husband's infidelity added nothing to the story and simply seemed to be there to make a reason for her being in the UK in the first place. If I were to criticise the book it would be that I wished it had more focus on the characters, the method of having a present day character discovering the past was a nice one but it probably wasn't necessary as at times it was pointless reading the present day character discovering what the reader had already read during the 'past' sections. I'd have preferred instead for it to have just focused on the past and for the central characters, victims and perpetrators to have had their backstories explored as I feel this would have allowed for more depth. I enjoyed the past story more than the present and it felt like more thought had been put into the past part of the story, the present day storyline felt a little as though it had been shoe-horned in to add something a bit different to the narrative. I also felt the present day storyline had too many coincidences and despite the book being set in the UK there were a few american-ism's that clearly fell through the editing process and I found them irritating, such as when apparently British characters referred to shoes as sneakers, or when the NHS ambulance service arrived and knocked the door shouting "medics". This might be a little picky but it bothered me that Alf approached Caroline to ask if she wanted to join their group as this just wouldn't happen in London, it's a running joke that Londoners avoid eye contact with everyone let alone ask them to join in their group. There were also too many coincidences that were clearly there to move the story along, simple things such as in the present day storyline Caroline's fully charged phone is used for the torch function and drains the battery in about 20 minutes which isn't realistic or when Caroline applies one evening to Cambridge and gets accepted by the next morning, or when after meeting Gaynor literally 4 times we are expected to believe they are lifelong best-friends planning a trip to Paris. I feel that I have been quite critical in my review but I did really enjoy the book, I've been conscious to avoid giving away any spoilers and so that has meant that I haven't fully discussed the storyline and it's strengths. It's a really interesting debut novel and I look forward to reading Sarah Penner's future work, I highly recommend this book.

Excellent read. Could not put down, I picked up my kindle every moment I had to spare as each page keep you wondering what would happen next. Twist to story at the end which I was not expecting. I never read books twice but think this might be an exception to the rule.

This is a dual timeline novel set in London in the present day and in 1791. An American woman, Caroline, travels to London for a wedding anniversary even though she has just discovered that her husband has had an affair. Joining a group seeking historical artifacts on the banks of the Thames, she discovers an old apothecary's vial and decides to do some research about it. This is the link between her story and that of Nella, women's apothecary in 1791 London. The two stories are very well handled and balanced, the timelines alternating in a satisfying, rhythmic way. I'd have liked them to come together more satisfactorily but they stayed pretty parallel. The action was well-paced and the characters nicely defined. I especially liked Eliza, the young girl who apprentices herself to Nella. I enjoyed the book, but my enjoyment of it was marred by the repeated use of American English idiom and detail that would not have been used or seen in eighteenth century London. 'Trash' and 'garbage' are not used here at all. London was not built in 'blocks' and no British person navigates their way round a city using them. I doubt there were 'trash bins' in 1790s London and I do not think the word 'okay' was in anyone's vocabulary at that time. Coffee in UK coffee shops that is served in the actual cafe is not served in disposable cups. Finally, no patient in a British NHS hospital gets to choose from a 'cafeteria menu', they get whatever the last person in their bed ordered. These are just a few of the many details that constantly hooked me out of the narrative. Frankly, they made me quite cross, because many, if not all of them could/should have been picked up by the editor.

I liked reading the book. I could not put it down. For me it was a story of 3 women interconnected through time. The idea of the book intrigued me and at the same time I was surprised by the boldness of the plot. I felt as if I was walking into another world with the characters, living their life with them. The book is written quite well with a story of loyalty, love friendship and connection.

The topic was fascinating and the intertwined stories are brilliant, easy read and page turner that makes a lovely beach read

Uygun

This is more than just mystery and history, it is well written with much to keep you going to the end and wishing for more. Sarah Penner has a deft hand at guiding the reader through London, down onto the Thames embankments learning of the Mudlarks and from there into the twisting turning lanes of the old city in the late 1700s. There are two stories and they link in beautifully, never confusing, as the characters cope with their own problems. On the one hand the apothecary helping women with her herbs and tinctures hidden well away from the city around her where no man would find her nor even dream she existed. On the other hand there is Caroline, escaping from the distaster her husband has visited on their marriage by his affair Caroline discovered just days before they were supposed to take the trip from Ohio to London to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Instead she comes alone, upset and deeply angry by his conduct. In London and alone for the first time in her life, as she explores the small vial she discovered she finds that her life was not what she really wanted and so this trip is the beginning of how things might be in the future. Both women have learned from hard experience that men are not always as they thought them to be, and each in her own way discovers that life alone can be rewarding. There is no let up from intrigue, interest, and many a deep and meaningful awareness shared only by the women though separated by over two hundred years. It seems nothing changes and it is through her search for the apothecary that Caroline finds her own way through the life she has led for the past ten years. I was gripped by the book and found it hard to put down. The characters are very real as is the area of London both women found themselves living in. It was hard to finish and I tried my best to delay the ending but - as all good things do, it came to an end and I was immediately looking for more books by Sarah Penning. So far, this is it, and I now wait to see if there are going to be more, for she is surely an imaginative writer with a sense of true tension in her story. If you love a bit of mysterious history and enjoy finding how women, long kept under by men, have had their own ways of dealing with life under their thumbs, then this is for you.