I really didn’t want this book to end! I I tried to savor it but I just couldn’t. Ms. Penner did such a fantastic job of transporting this reader to the late 1700 England that I could almost feel the prick of a thorn on my finger and the beetles being take between my thumb and finger.

It is about saving the people we love but it also about saving ourselves. I loved the relationship between Eliza and Nella; the friendship between Gaynor and Caroline.
It’s also about women helping women, which is something we all can learn from and do more of.

An entertaining historical fiction debut that is told by narrators in two different time periods.

At the center of this story is a hidden apothecary shop. Secreted behind a false wall and accessible only through a dark alley, this special place served the women of London -- women who had been ill-used or betrayed by men. For the owner would not sell any tinctures, potions, or concoctions to someone who intended to harm another woman. Each transaction was recorded in the apothecary's register to serve as an acknowledgment. The shop had operated out of this back alley for years until one day when it suddenly closed and everything was left behind, untouched, for over 200 years.

1791 London, the current shop proprietress, Nella, has mixed a special poison ordered by a patron who left a letter in the secret barrel outside of the hidden room. At the appropriate hour, someone arrives to collect it but Nella is surprised to find a 12-year-old girl, Eliza Fanning, picking it up for the woman who has requested to be rid of her husband. Eliza and Nella form an unusual relationship and spend some time together. Unwittingly, Eliza makes a mistake that jeopardizes Nella's entire operation.

In the alternate time period, it is current day when Caroline Parcewell comes to London for what was meant to be a 10-year-anniversary celebration. She is alone because she had just discovered that her husband was having an affair and left him behind at home. While out mudlarking on her first day there, she finds an ancient apothecary vial on the banks of the river Thames at low tide. Since she always was interested in artifacts and history, she decides to do some historical research and stumbles upon an old newspaper article that mentions the "apothecary murders" that had occurred in the 1700s.

Although the premise really enticed me, the actual story and the way it was told sort of disappointed. I was much more invested in the 1791 time period and the adventures of Nella and Eliza than I was in the Caroline portion of the novel. I wanted to know more about the actual apothecary and its customers while Caroline's amateur historical searching and the drama surrounding her crumbling marriage wasn't that appealing. The serendipity and coincidence of most of Caroline's discoveries did require a bit of suspension of disbelief. The conclusion left me a bit confused with unanswered questions though the author attempted a tidy wrap up.

Overall it was a quick and enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This book had a ton of hype, so congrats to the marketing! The problem with all the insta posts/reviews, was that it reallly hyped the book up, and while it was a good book - I ultimately was disappointed because I was expecting something INSANELY great. It was a good book, fresh concept, and I loved the historical context. It was a fun read and the characters were likable and you were rooting for them to succeed.

My only criticism is for the publishing team, just give the book to fewer people to hype up prerelease, and then slowly give more books out after. That gives it a continuation publicity, instead of a short push that overhypes it.

The magical, dark atmosphere is what pulled me in. From there the history and story of Eliza, Nella, and Caroline had me captivated. It’s a book I will go back and reread on stormy days. Just wonderful.

The Lost Apothecary was such a great book. I love the contrast between present-day and 1700's London.

Present-day
In this historical fiction mixed with fantasy mixed with some magic, we follow Caroline on her trip to London after learning about her husband's affair. In an effort to not follow an itinerary, Caroline finds herself searching through the shallow waters of the Thames river. There, she finds an old apothecary vial with a mysterious etching. The vial sparks the historian in her, and Caroline sets out to uncover its story.

1700's
Nella's apothecary isn't an ordinary apothecary. Hers is very special. Nella specializes in creating poisons only to be used on men. One day a young girl comes into her shop and makes a very unfortunate mistake. A mistake that can connect Nella to all the mysterious and unexplainable deaths. Now, Nella must find a way to stop her world from crumbling.

I would definitely recommend this book! Such a great read. Thank you, NetGalley.

I love love loooooved this book. Feminist storylines, academic libraries, and magic... All things I very much enjoy in a book. I read this book in two sittings - I just couldn't stop.
I grew to dislike stories with multiple POVs from previous work at a literary agency, but I felt like each POV shift had a purpose and gave the reader more insight into what exactly was happening. Some of the cliffhangers were painful (in a good way), but they kept me reading and wanting more.
All three storylines are equally engaging and interesting, and I never felt like the story dragged on. There were a few issues of telling the story instead of showing it, but it didn't detract from the storytelling.
My favorite part about the novel was that even when Caroline wasn't actively researching the apothecary, I still felt the connection and parallels between the two storylines. It made the ending more powerful and satisfying. All in all, very happy to have read this book!!

Thank you, NetGalley for gifting me this ARC!

The Lost Apothecary was freaking awesome!

The reader is taken on this ride through time - in present day and in history. The way the author connects the stories and time together was so good!! I felt like the whole book was this perfectly weaved story that had me always wondering what would happen next.

Character wise - loved them. I LOVED Nella. She is just the woman we all need in our lives. Not only is she a total bad ass owning a running the apothecary but she is sweet and had such a great story.

Eliza is also such a little sweetheart who I just adored. I have to admit sometimes she did kind of annoy me but then I remembered she was a child and the things she was doing/ saying were understandable!

I have to say I enjoyed Caroline the most! She was so relatable and I respected her so much. So many times I expected her to give in or give up and she just didn't. She was a strong character who was finding out what she wanted most in life after crisis. I loved the history and her search for the truth.

Overall, this was a great story. Such a good mix of history, mystery, and drama! I would highly suggest this book!

In The Lost Apothecary, Nella is the proprietor of a secret apothecary shop in London where she has been vending poisons, known only by word-of-mouth by the women of the city. One day, Eliza, a young girl with a curiosity about her trade, enters the store.

In present day, Caroline has just discovered her husband's infidelity and comes upon a clue about the past existence of the apothecary shop while on holiday in London. Soon, she finds herself absorbed in a historical investigation.

In this vivid novel, the past and the present collide, resulting in a story about female relationships, full of bitter betrayals and intrigue.

The Lost Apothecary doesn't quite live up to the promise of its intriguing premise and captivating cover art, but it's also an effortless read with some interesting components, and I think it was worth the few hours I spent reading it.

The writing is fine and the narrative is cohesive enough that it feels complete. I felt like the characters could have been developed more and there wasn't quite the level of tension and mystery that the cover blurb seems to suggest, but I still enjoyed the story and for a debut novel it's solid. I'd say this is more of a gentler novel than the thriller-esque tone of the book description indicates.

Overall, I'm glad I gave it a chance. It's a quick read with a clear sense of the message it wants to impart. I'd say if you're on the fence about it, but you're really curious about the premise like I was, you might as well give it a shot.

The Lost Apothecary uses the common alternating timeline structure to tell the tale of a female apothecary in late 1700s London who dispenses poison to women who want to dispose of men in their lives, and of a present-day woman who is dealing with a cheating husband and discovers an artifact from the apothecary on a trip to London.

This was a neat story, but the structure is tired, and using the past tense throughout made me feel disconnected from present-day Caroline's story. I did enjoy the overall themes of friends looking out for each other, giving women a voice, and getting back into your passions, but there was nothing too exciting to see here.

I am finding The Lost Apothecary difficult to review/rate. Historical fiction told in a dual timeline manner. London in the late 1700's and present day. While I found it to be a compelling read, especially for a debut, it just didn't work for me. There is a hidden woman's apothecary where various potions are dispensed by Nella depending on the woman's problem. The 1790's tale was very well written, meticulously researched and very atmospheric. The present day story is where I started faltering. Caroline flies to London for what was to be a 10th anniversary trip however right before the trip she discovers her husband cheating on her. She decides to travel solo. This is where I found to a distinct difference in character development. While the 2 primary characters in the early timeline,
Nella and Eliza had a lot of emotional depth, Caroline was hard to relate to and feel sympathy for. She was boring
and for me, unlikable. The male characters were poorly developed Galley,more or less fillers. the weaving together of the timelines well done with moments of brilliance but I found the story to lag a bit in parts. I reached the end feeling some what disappointed.
Thanks to Net Galley, the publisher and author for the Arc copy.
3.75 rounded up to 4 stars for review.

This was such an interesting concept that I was immediately drawn to wanting to read The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. A dual timeline novel, 1791 and the present day, these two stories are brought together when Caroline, our present-day character who once had dreams of being a historian and who has just found out her husband has cheated on her. Travelling on her own to London, she goes mudlarking (a term I'd never heard of before) and finds a small glass vial hidden in the mud of the Thames. This, in turn, leads her to investigate where it came from and in turn uncover a 200-year-old mystery.

Interspersed with Caroline's story is Nella's story, an apothecary who now also trades in poison for women wronged by men. And Eliza's story, a young 12-year-old girl sent to Nella to get some poison on behalf of her mistress. Eliza is extremely fascinated with what it is that Nella does and when the chance comes to find out more, she does everything she can learn and understand the whats and the whys.

I admit to finding Nella and Eliza's story in 1791, more interesting for most of the book, I didn't really get much of a feel for Caroline for the majority of the story, until maybe the last third, where I just had to know how things were going to turn out for her.

Nella and Eliza make an unlikely pair, as they are thrown together, despite Nella's misgivings, their story becomes a tangled tail of murder, vengeance and mystery.

As Caroline delves into the mystery of the vial, she finds that she is starting to discover a part of herself that has been forgotten, through marriage and expectations, and has some big decisions to make about her future and that of her marriage. I have to say, her husband was a right piece of work and I was hoping she would be strong and make decisions based on her needs and not his wants.

I had heard of poison being used to kill off people who had wronged you or who were in the way, obviously way back in the past, before we had testing for such substances, so I found it quite fascinating and I had no idea as to the extent that this kind of thing was used.

This was a very enjoyable read, thanks to HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

In a secret apothecary shop, Nella spends her days providing simple cures for her neighbors as a cover for her more secret services. The women in the area know who to come to for help with abusive and oppressive husbands, and Nella saves those services only for women. When a young woman seeks help for her mistress, Nella’s apothecary services are put in danger.
In the present day, Caroline finds herself in London celebrating her tenth wedding anniversary alone. On a whim, she joins a mudlarking group combing the banks of the Thames and discovers a unique apothecary bottle. As her historian instincts kick in, Sarah finds herself lost in the research of the bottle’s origins, she discovers the truth behind the bottle and the truth about herself.
Lushly told through alternating timelines, The Lost Apothecary is a beautiful blend of history, mystery, and the dark secrets of women and medicine. Caroline’s journey of self discovery blended beautifully with the dark tale of Nella’s apothecary. The Lost Apothecary also highlights the value of female friendships. Nella rescues Eliza from the gaze of her employer through an apprenticeship at the apothecary and Caroline strikes up a friendship with the Librarian who helps her research the bottle’s origins and reignite her spark for history and academia. Through those friendships, the women find the strength they need to make life-altering decisions for themselves.
Combining the history of London with the history of Nella’s apothecary, Penner provides a gripping story of women’s survival. Whether it be an abusive marriage, a brutish employer, or a cheating and manipulative spouse, all three women survive and learn to grow within their own new realities.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to anyone who loves history, a good mystery, and tales of found family and deep friendship.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title, all opinions and mistakes are my own.

Written in a dual timeline between current day and 1791 London, The Lost Apothecary is the engaging stories of Caroline and Nella. In current day, Caroline, spiraling from the discovery of her husband’s affair, is spending her ten year wedding anniversary trip alone in London and comes across a small, old apothecary vial near the riverbank. A history bug, Caroline dives into researching it’s history, discovering secrets about the past. In 1791, once a well known and respected chemist, Nella turns her business to selling poisons to women for use on men who’ve wronged them in some way. Until one day, a woman breaks the rules Nella has established and things go very wrong.

The gorgeous cover of this book first attracted my attention, but soon I was engrossed in both Nella and Caroline’s stories by the beautiful writing and intriguing details. Both characters are compelling and endearing, prompting me to care about them and wanting the best outcome. Highly recommend this historical fiction mystery!

The Lost Apothecary moves between entries and characters. Forstly we have Nella - in 1791, who is our apocathe and who the book is about. Her mother ran, what we would call a chemist, and taught Nella everything she knows. When he Mother died and left Nella grieving, having only known her Mother and noting else is left her hollow and then Frederick came along and made her happy once more. But didn't leave her that way, he left a bitterness within Nella which made her turn her mothers legacy into something more sinister. She started dispensing potions to women, to aid them to be rid of the burden of their husbands, fathers, employers - she would only give her 'prescriptions' to women, to aid women. And all was well and this had worked for her and her reputation had grown. Till one day, a young girl, Eliza Fanning comes and requests a potion on behalf of her mistress.

Young Eliza is enchanted by what she believes to be Nella's magik and feels that Nella needs her, Nella is ill and needs help, but is reluctant to embroil Eliza into her world poisons, she's young and needs not to be shut away brewing lethal potions. Also after a totally accidental, but lethal poison gets dispensed and a discrepancy occurs, she's loathed to involve Eliza further more, but Eliza makes it her business and

And then theres current day and Caroline, who's just found out her husband is cheating on her and has flown to the UK on what should have been their anniversary break, a trip she's always wanted to come on, all planned and having been dealt this blow, she is at her wits end and has come alone to soul search.

The Thames dominates London and anyone who's walked along by it will have seen the tide goes out and people 'mudlarking'. Caroline joins in and makes a discovery that leads her to make new friends and discoveries of her own. James finally joins her in London and though neither are sure what they want anymore from each other. Caroline knows her history degree, that she gained at college and never got to put to use, shouldn't go on being wasted and wants to do something with it. The reason she wanted to go to London was to indulge her love of the historical side of life there and she goes one better.

The book is researched and written incredibly well, its like I am back in victorian London, walking the cobbled streets in search of Nella and Eliza. I love historical themed books, but with medical references and with this one poisonings and murder are rife too, so made it even more enjoyable. This a strong debut and I think Sarah is one to watch, as she can only improve with experience. The Lost Apothecary is a compelling and stimulating read that will keep you up late, wanting to find out what 1791 and current day brings.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a lush historical novels full of mystery, familial love, found family, and the dark secrets of medicine in the 17th century. I was absolutely astonished by the historical details of London and the rich backstory each of the main women possessed. My favorite part of this story was the parallels between the 17th century and the present day.

The Lost Apothecary is split between three narrators: Caroline, and American, who has come to London, alone, for her ten-year wedding anniversary after learning her husband has cheated on her; Nella, an apothecary in 1791 who makes potions and sells them to women to kill the men who have wronged them; and Eliza, a twelve-year-old servant girl in 1791 who has been sent to Nella's shop for her mistress to retrieve poisoned eggs to serve to her mistress's husband. On her first day in London, Caroline goes mud-larking and finds a curious bottle. As we progress through the story, Caroline comes to learn the origins on the bottle and its significance in Nella and Eliza's lives. Meanwhile in 1791, Eliza murders her master and finds herself curious about Nella and the work she does. As Eliza spends more time with Nella, Nella grows attached to the girl, despite Nella's own broken past. Where and how will these 18th century women's lives intersect with Caroline's-- and has being a woman really changed all that much in the 200+ years that separates them?

If you are a fan of Lauren Willig's split time setting historical fiction novels, The Lost Apothecary will be right up your alley. Secondly, while I totally get the menstruation bit as a connection between the three women, it just feels cheap. Like, duh, menstruation binds them... it has bound women together over the millennia. And the magic bit at the end, deus ex machina more than I like. I'm sorry, Eliza should not have lived. If you like historical fiction with dual timelines and a bit of mystery, give this a shot-- you will enjoy it, even if you do have Opinions at the end.

‘The Lost Apothecary’ was such a unique and feminist historical novel-with a mysterious, atmospheric, gothic flair-about women helping women in a time where they did not have much agency in their own lives. The apothecary shop begins as a way to fill the void in women’s health care in the 1700’s, slowly morphing into a secret headquarters used to protect and avenge abused and wronged ladies in a society where men hold all the power.

While the story started off a little slow for me, once the mystery began, things really took off, and I couldn’t stop reading. It follows multiple points of view-Nella, Eliza, and Caroline, all of which I loved-and the mystery unfolded between past and present seamlessly. The female characters were all morally gray, which I loved, and I really liked that at the heart of the story it is about women helping women survive in a man’s world. The whole premise was just so original to me.

I was really feeling the gothic elements in ‘The Lost Apothecary,’ and I found learning about the natural remedies and poisons used in Nella’s apothecary lair fascinating. I enjoyed both timelines in equal measure, and found myself wanting to be back in one when I was in the other. The way the past seems to almost reach out to help Caroline in the future was also absolutely ace.

There was a great twist in ‘The Lost Apothecary’ that managed to shock me in a great way, and I found the journeys of each character to be emotionally satisfying.

If you’re on the fence about this book, I guarantee it’s worth reading. You’re in for a treat. This story was a twisted, beautiful adventure.

This historical novel is set in London, alternating between two time periods. In 1791, we meet Nella, an apothecary who in addition herbal remedies, makes poison concoctions for female clients who have been wronged by men, and Eliza, a 12 year old servant who is sent by her mistress to purchase poison from Nella. And in the present day, the book is told from the perspective of Caroline, who has come to London alone on what was supposed to be an anniversary trip after discovering her husband had cheated on her. She finds a glass apothecary bottle in the Thames, and starts researching, which leads her to information about the historical portion of the story. I love dual time period historical fiction, and this was a good one. Plus how can you not love the absolutely gorgeous cover of this book?!

This was a fun quick read! In present day London, Caroline flies solo on her wedding anniversary trip after discovering her husband's affair. Coming across a mysterious vial in the River Thames, she falls down a rabbit hole of an apothecary serial killer who brewed potions for men to meet their maker. Back in 1791, Nella has successfully run her operation for years undetected. Her identity comes under threat when she abides the request of twelve-year-old Eliza. After they cross paths, it becomes an enticing cat and mouse game where each must fight to keep each other alive. Caroline's future also hangs in the balance as she battles her marriage, desired motherhood, and a lack of career prospects. Sarah Penner delivers the right amount of historical fiction, female driven plots, and suspense. I look forward to what she writes next. Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row for the copy!

This book was so fun! I read it quickly - over the course of two snowy days - because a. it's easy to read and b. the story is light and fast-paced. I enjoyed all of the characters, especially Eliza, and was happy that the story ended on a hopeful note. I almost wished there was *more* to the story - I wanted to hear so much more about different women that Nella helped, and wanted Caroline to go back to the apothecary. Will recommend to friends and library patrons that want something easy and fun. Thanks for the ARC!