Book Club, and Review: The Lost Apothecary

The Lost Apothecary

By Sara Penner

 The Lost Apothecary is one of the novels you just sit back and read and take in. Just let the author do the work, and you imagine and enjoy. I am a literary snob and enjoyed reading the unique style of writing.

The author had two times lines that really worked for me. The timelines are usually weak. Usually, when I read there is one timeline I care about and the others don't usually work. The authors use the technique too much.

The author of The Lost Apothecary allows you to use all your senses of imagery. The author spun the tale of each of the characters in corresponding chapters and parallel each of their actions and behaviors. What a lot of work for an author. But it worked for the intensity of the story.

The novel is a feminist tale with injustices to women, and also is a mystery, suspense, escapist, friendship, and historical fiction, with a touch of magic. Some novels don't tell the story specifically. The authors who write at times think we are stupid and have to lecture us in the story, not Lost Apothecary.

The author used many literary techniques and tricks which includes symbolism in many parts of the novel which worked for me. The author made a point to say that women are erased from history. You will understand what I am talking about while reading. Also, the use and crimes against women For thousands of years were unaccounted deaths in suspicious deaths of men.

One part of the story bothered me a tad. Eliza is a 12-year-old girl not understanding menstruation. No one told her. She thought she was cursed. The correlation between menstruation and the curse was an interesting take. Our book club realized and talked about how the author used it in the novel. Did it work? Or was it unbelievable? You decide.

A female apothecary, Nella in 17 Century England sells disguised potions to women seeking revenge and the men who wronged them, either by abuse, neglect, etc.

 Two hundred years later in the present day, US a woman and her husband are planning on a trip to England.  She leaves without her husband. 

She finds out he was cheating on her. She arrives in London once in London. She takes a walk. During her walk she finds a vial in the Thames River. 

This is the intersection of the two storylines intersect. Instead, she finds out he has been cheating on her. The hardest part she gave up her dream of going to college and becoming a historian. After she learns he has cheated she takes the trip alone. That's when the lives intersect.

I would like to recommend the novel to anyone looking for a book to read at the beach. Anyone who loves historical fiction and take you away to another time and place with a touch of magic.