The Lost Apothecary

I have a bad tendency to set aside my fiction for adults and get mired in YA stuff, favorite kids' series, and historical fiction for all ages. Finally finishing The Maidens yesterday sparked a need to read more books written for adults, so I grabbed The Lost Apothecary from my stacks. I also added some more adult fic to my selection of books going with me on vacation. I might have to throw a few more in there, too. Clearly, I have nothing against being far older than the target market for the books I read, but I need to balance things out more. 

I quite enjoyed The Lost Apothecary. It's set in chapters that alternate both PoV (all first person) and time period. The main character in the present day is Caroline, who's visiting London alone on what should have been her anniversary trip with her husband. She found out right before that he'd been cheating, and she wanted the vacation alone to figure things out. On her first day, she goes mudlarking, which is searching the banks of the Thames for cool old stuff, and she finds a small blue glass vial marked with the etching of a bear. She takes it to the library and her search for the lost apothecary begins. The main character in the past is Nella, the lost apothecary herself, who lives in 1791. Nella is both an apothecary and a provider of poisons for women who need to rid themselves of troublesome men. She never gives poisons to be administered to other women. There are also chapters from Eliza, a 12-year-old maid sent to Nella by her mistress, because the master of the house is a little too interested in Eliza's maturing. 

We learn what happens to Nella and Eliza after a botched poisoning as we watch Caroline find the lost apothecary shop itself and try to find herself along the way, hindered by her idiotic husband who decided it would be a great idea to join her in London when she'd clearly asked for space. Like all of the male characters set in the past, Caroline's husband is a total asshole who poisons himself to try to win her back. Caroline, Nella and Eliza are all faced with difficult circumstances near the end and I enjoyed reading what happened to each of them. 

Overall, this was a really good book. The changing PoVs were done well and they made me want to read faster to unravel what would happen. All four of the main female characters were likeable and I cared about them. (The fourth is the librarian, Gaynor, who helps Caroline on her historical research quest.) 

This author has a new book coming out in March and I'm looking forward to it.