I absolutely loved this beautiful story set in Renaissance era Rome, following the women who run the Tofana apothecary. Carmela has grown up helping her mother run the apothecary, but now that she's 16 she can finally be trusted to know the weight of responsibility, secrets, and danger that her family has to put themselves in to help the women in their community who need them. Like Blood Water Paint, it's a blend of historical fiction and modern feminism.

I absolutely loved this. Even though it is about such heavy topics, like gendered violence, domestic abuse, abortion, death, etc., it was written in a way that felt so comforting. The prose chapters tell the story of a family who cares so deeply not only for each other, but for their entire community, and the verse chapters drive home the point that although we are all different, we are also so much the same. The characters have to continuously find common ground with each other, acknowledge each other's humanity, and accept a sense of responsibility towards each other, even when they hate each other, and I thought it was all so beautifully done. And this might just be me, but I would even say that the way we lived in the daily life of the apothecary was actually downright cozy. It made me want to start an herb garden immediately. I really enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend it!

Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3.5/5 stars.

I really enjoyed the combination of prose and verse in this, and the story was interesting. I also liked the characters...but I also grew very annoyed with Carmela throughout the story...especially with how petty she is and her holding grudges. I do think it gives an interesting look at herbal medicine and yes, the poisoning elements as well. I also liked how they're called Tofana.

There was also a brief moment where I was imagining Friar Lawrence in R&J and how he talks about the good and bad parts of plants.

THIS BOOK IS PERFECT.

I lost the amount of times I cried while reading it but I treasure it so much that it's now a favorite of mine for 2025! The writing, the characters and bringing a not so common story and tying it to how women fought back then to keep control of their lives and to have power over men in the only way they knew how hit really hard especially in our current times where women's rights are going to continue being challenged, it is so fitting for our current times. Beautiful. I can't wait for whatever is next!

Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough is a stunning historical novel.
There was not a dull moment throughout the novel. The setting was magnificent.
The characters just come alive. And the wrong magnificent.

I’m a big fan of Joy McCullough and will read whatever she writes.

This story transports you to 17th-century Rome, where women fight for survival and agency in a world that gives them neither. At the heart of the story is Giulia, who runs an apothecary that secretly helps women escape abusive situations, and her curious teenage daughter, Carmela, who is eager to follow in her footsteps.

The bond between these women and their tight-knit, found family is what makes this book shine. It’s about resilience, community, and quietly defying the odds. The writing is immersive, and the mix of historical detail with themes of empowerment makes it a truly engaging read. I loved how it balanced heartbreak with hope. A must-read for anyone who enjoys stories about strong women.

Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough is a powerful and thought-provoking read. It’s more than just a historical fiction novel—it’s a reminder of how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go when it comes to gender equality and societal expectations. The story is compelling, with a strong lead who challenges the norms of her time in ways that still feel relevant today. While some parts felt a bit rushed, the overall message about courage, independence, and breaking barriers really shines. Definitely worth a read for the important perspective it brings.

Wow! This was everything I hoped it would be. I loved McCullough's first novel Blood Water Paint, and hoped this would be similar. Yes, it gave me the same feminist chills. Following these women through several generations of trauma, love, loss, and lifting each other up was heartrenching. The writing was captivating and haunting. The mixture of poetry and prose was dynamic and I enjoyed every moment in this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the e galley. The opinions in this review are my own.

In Sophia Petrillo from Golden Girls' voice- Picture it, 17th Century Rome, a mother Giulia runs the Apothecary Tofana with a cadre of strong women, while raising her teenage daughter Carmela who is eager to learn the healing ways of her mother.

In a time period where women do not have agency or choice, Giulia and her apothecary gives the female residents of her small village hope, and sometimes more necessary means to combat the patriarchal system around them.

When Carmela turns 16 and starts working at the apothecary, things do go awry as her inexperience with the ingredients and how to manage people happens. Her found family rallies around her and her mother while supporting the females of the village.

Found family, feminism and magic make this a very compelling read.

I don’t know why this made me so emotional. It didn’t hit me until almost an hour after I finished. I just love women. I love reading about female relationships, either born or formed. I love the communities women create, the compassion women exhibit, the love women hold.

This is a historical fiction novel taking place in 17th century Rome. It is inspired by the real life figure of Giulia Tofana, a poisoner who invented Aqua Tofana which she sold to women who wanted to murder their husbands. In Everything is Poison we follow the perspective of her daughter Carmela. She has just turned sixteen and is finally allowed to apprentice at her mother’s apothecary. As she begins to learn the ins and outs of the business, and the various remedies they create, she stumbles across one of the shop’s deadly secrets. Aqua Tofana, the apothecary’s remedy of last resort.

An apothecary shop run by women already faces many superstitious beliefs. Carmela and the women in her life are often called witches and shunned by the people in their community. Despite those same people being customers in their shop. If it ever got out that they were giving women power over their abusers, a poison that could bring a man to his knees, they would be executed. This book tackles what it is to be a community center that is met with unforgiving judgement. To cultivate knowledge that can heal or harm. To decide how far you will go to protect those who need it most.

McCullough utilizes both prose and verse. While our main story stays firmly in prose, at the end of each chapter is a section in verse that gives insight into the everyday lives of the people surrounding the apothecary. We see how other residents of Campo Marzio live similar experiences as our characters. The universality of both suffering and joy. I’ve studied the late-Renaissance period in the past, and this book was a lovely refresher. It was nice to immerse myself in the era again, and to see a narrative interpretation of the way women interacted.

I honestly flew through this and had a wonderful time. I loved our characters, and I especially enjoyed seeing Carmela and Violetta’s tumultuous relationship. Their growing kinship was a great opportunity for them to become more sympathetic to each other and see another’s perspective. To understand the ways women may lash out to feel in control when they have none. As well as to treasure what makes them more fortunate than others.

Joy McCullough does an excellent job bringing to light some of the more unknown historical stories--especially the often untold women's stories. Carmela wants nothing more than to work in her mother's apothecary in 17th century Rome. The women who work here help all sorts of Romans with ailments--real and imagined. When Carmela finally gets her wish, she learns about the darker side of the apothecary--that gives women poison to get out of unsafe and violent relationships. Based on some truth, this story was riveting. Partially told in verse, any student who likes historical fiction and/or women's stories will enjoy this quick read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

“Everything Is Poison” by Joy McCullough is a gripping historical novel that dives into the dark, complex world of 17th-century Rome. Carmela Tofana’s story of apothecary secrets, poison, and survival is haunting and empowering.. Tthis book is both thought-provoking and beautifully written.

3✧!!
╰ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ mini review down below!

my thoughts🧪┆ this was such a fun read!! and it was historical fiction, which is a genre that i need to read more of!<3 what i loved most was carmella’s character development throughout the book, the story follows carmella as she finally gets to work in her mothers apothecary on her 16th birthday. i learned so much about struggles women went through back then - and how husbands would treat their wives. i also enjoyed the poetry strung in the chapters!! overall this was a good book, quick and easy to binge!!

characters🧸!!

➼ carmella
╰ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ she was our fmc, and i really did enjoy seeing her character develop and grow throughout the story. it was fun to see her work with her mother and also how she learned compassion and how to make the right decisions and calls! she wasn’t my favorite fmc - i couldn’t really relate to her at all, but i still enjoyed her story nonetheless!💌

bottom line┊this was overall a pretty fun and interesting read!! i liked it, but historical fiction isn’t really my thing - but i would definitely recommend - if you love historical fiction, or if you want a book to binge!! thank you so so so much to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with my first arc!!
~saisha🤍
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You ever read a book that had one large feature that ruined the book for you?

That’s what happened to me with Everything is Poison.

Every chapter of this book had a poem before it (chapter one would end and there would be a poem before chapter two, etc). I’ve seen this storytelling tactic work before, to great effect. Not here, however, because the poems were bad. This is solely my opinion and I know poetry is one of the most subjective written mediums out there but I just thought every single one was a waste of page count and storytelling space. If they were even marginally better I could’ve rolled my eyes a little and just dismissed them as amateur attempts, but these poems were truly bad. I completely question why McCullough thought they were a good idea.

This book is marketed as a YA book but I don’t really feel like teenage girls will appreciate it as the target demographic due to the emphasis on listening to your elders, not being able to match people’s energy, and having to hide your rage against men because of the consequences it might bring to your doorstep. At the same time, the target demographic might appreciate the attention to historical details when it comes to herbal remedies and reading anything related to Guilia Tofana (which is why I wanted to read this book).

It just wasn’t a good book for me. I suspect it’ll be a great book for some, though.

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

This was such a good read and made the pharmacist/toxicology nerd in me happy and as a true crime junkie, I approve of this book. :) As a pharmacist, it's always interesting to read books with a pharmacy/medicine theme because there are not that many books out there that I've seen--not counting nonfiction books--about a pharmacist or someone in medicine. I would assume it's extremely difficult for an author who doesn't have a medical background to do the necessary research to make everything medically accurate, so I also occasionally get wary reading books set in a pharmacy/apothecary because I look at them with a ton more scrutiny. I WORK in that setting, so I know what it's like on a day-to-day basis with patient interactions and what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to dispensing medicine for patients.

Everything is Poison immediately caught my eye because it's about Giulia Tofana, the maker and mastermind behind the Acqua Tofana concoction that killed hundreds of men in Italy during the Renaissance, although this number could be much larger. I did a whole presentation about it during my clinical rotation at my state's Poison Control Center since it was assumed to have belladonna in it, along with arsenic and a whole bunch of other poisons. (My presentation was about plant poisons.) When I saw this on NetGalley, I KNEW I had to request it.

To put things in modern-day examples, Giulia is the pharmacist, Maria and Laura are her pharmacy technicians, and Carmela, Giulia's daughter, is a pharmacy intern (so a pharmacy student) trying to learn the ropes of her mom's role in the hopes that she one day can take over the apothecary and run it. The story follows Carmela as she turns 16 and starts to work in Giulia's apothecary. As she works there, she starts to learn about the dark underbelly of her mother's apothecary business beyond the standard cosmetics, love potions, arthritis creams, and other medicines she dispenses.

There were so many times I laughed because a lot of the tasks that Guilia, Maria, Laura, and Carmela do in the apothecary are still things that pharmacies do to this day- inventory and purchasing, compounding, counseling patients on different medications, giving recommendations to patients for different ailments, and even when they separate their more "dangerous" drugs/ingredients from the rest of their inventory behind the counter reminds me of how the pharmacy I work at keeps our controlled substances behind a locked room and our hazardous drugs (aka our NIOSH drugs) on separate shelves away from the rest of the drugs. Every time there was an interaction they had with a patient who was asking about this remedy or the other, my mind immediately went to the modern-day equivalent to what I would've recommended if I was the pharmacist there and it was sort of fun to make those connections. I know that in reality, I don't think Giulia Tofana ran an actual storefront apothecary in a building and most likely just had a small stand somewhere, but it was nice to see that the everyday tasks were just like any other pharmacy you'd see today, so I liked and appreciated the accuracy of pharmacy practice overall.

I loved how Giulia was trying to teach Carmela empathy throughout the story by telling her that they have to take care of everyone who steps through their doors and help them in any way they can, no matter how much they do or don't like them as people. Empathy is a huge aspect of working in healthcare and I felt like Carmela needed to learn to set aside her personal biases about the people she knew who came through the apothecary doors and help them. There were many times where I couldn't stand Carmela's attitude and thoughts towards some of the things she came across while working in the apothecary and I kept muttering to myself, "JUST SUCK IT UP AND HELP THEM!" I appreciated the character growth she had throughout the story, especially when it came down to her frenemy relationship with Violetta.

(Side note: It was kinda funny reading about Carmela trying to essentially gatekeep the pharmacy profession from Violetta and not letting her work there because she bullied Carmela when they were kids. They reminded me of Michael Scott and Toby from The Office.)

The only critiques I had about the story were the ending and how Aqua Tofana wasn't the main focal point of the story. The ending--albeit I read the ARC so I'm putting that here as a disclaimer--felt very abrupt and didn't sit right with me. I felt like it needed to be longer and more fleshed out because there were a lot of unanswered questions I had. There is a major event that happens within the last 30-40 pages of the story, and all of it happens extremely quickly and then the story just...ends. It felt incomplete. I would've loved to read about what happens immediately after the ending of the story, and no, I'm not talking about the epilogue which takes place a few years after (which was extremely cute). The book overall is 304 pages which is on the shorter side of books I've read this year, and I wouldn't have minded reading another 50-60 pages on how Carmela and the rest of the women handle the apothecary following the ending of the story.

Additionally, for a story about Giulia Tofana, her daughter, and the other women who helped Giulia dispense Aqua Tofana, the poison itself was more of a subplot and an underlying theme compared to the rest of the story, which was just the apothecary running on a day-to-day basis and the happenings inside the apothecary every day. We see the fallout and the consequences of people finding out about Aqua Tofana and SOME of the people who use it, but I wish we could've seen more about how it helped different people who needed it since that's what many girls and women ended up turning to in reality.

For a woman who made such an impact on the community in helping out girls and women who felt like they had no other choice, especially to the point where she, in real life, admitted to killing over 600 men with Aqua Tofana (and this number could be significantly higher!), we don't see a lot of those interactions between anyone who works at the apothecary and those people who wanted to get Aqua Tofana. It's been said that Aqua Tofana was the bestseller out of everything that Giulia Tofana sold, yet I didn't feel like that was reflected in the writing and the story at all. This was a time when women were married off to significantly older men, and most of the time the marriages were loveless and abusive. Many didn't see a way out until Aqua Tofana. Those who used it would tell their friends and it was very much through word of mouth that it blew up and became a silent but deadly poison. I would've loved to read more about how Aqua Tofana helped the women who needed it and the wide impact it had on the community.

Overall, this will be quite the banger to kick off 2025 releases, and if you're looking for a YA historical fiction story to read, I highly recommend this!

This tells the story of a young girl wanting to learn everything her mom knows about apothecary. She wants to help people until she finds out her mother makes Aqua Tofana, a poison, that is given to mainly women, to poison their abusive husbands. She learns that anything can be a poison depending on how it’s administered. The story gave me The Lost Apothecary vibes, but it was all in one timeline instead of jumping back and forth. It was a quick read for me. Favorite quote: "Everything is poison, love."

This book was a rich and wonderful tapestry of a tale that had me hook line and sinker from the get go. I rooted for the characters, the plot was nice and juicy to keep me fed, and the setting was just so well thought out and interesting that I literally could not put this down. I read it in a single sitting! I will definitely be going out of my way to purchase a physical copy of this book, this is something that needs to be on my shelves for me to admire and pick back up sometime in the future

McCullough has a niche and there is intense value to the historical fiction she's sharing with teens. It's a reminder that truth is stranger than fiction much of the time. She features 17th century women (several from real life) that used the power how they knew which was to use poison. In this situation, Carmela begins working in her mother's apothecary, a more "upstanding" opportunity to dispense the potions that many other women needed, while still providing everyday remedies for issues.

I wanted more of the verse to add a deeper layer because they were so beautifully crafted and added a shot of intensity when other chapters felt like they took too long to develop. It's a bit of a slow burn but with that rage that many women felt, I can see how that was incorporated into the story. I like a little more snap to YA stories to keep them moving.

I truly believe that this is going to be an incredibly impactful book for so many young people. Everything is poison follows Carmela as she discoveries the secrets and stories behind her mother's apothecary. Filled with strong women and the need to help others, Singnora Tofana fills her shops with all sorts of remedies and potions. From helping with joint pain to helping women escape awful men for good. Seeing the development through Carmela's eyes as she becomes a woman was enlightening and really makes you think about womanhood.
Everything is Poison was such an important and impactful read. Even though the book is written as fiction, there are so many real stories that we still see today. I appreciate the thought and care Joy McCullough put into her writing and I'm so grateful to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC!

Everything is Poison
Joy McCullough
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Favorite Quote:
“There are so many who have no one else to turn to, even if you think you know otherwise. Even if it looks like they have a mother, a sister, a friend. Maybe there’s a reason they can’t turn to those closest to them. That’s where we come in. That is the daily work we are here for. Giving women a choice over what happens in their bodies. Are we clear?”

I absolutely loved this book—words can hardly do justice to how much I enjoyed it. The themes felt incredibly relevant, and I was especially drawn to the relationships and deep understanding shared between the women. When I first came across *Everything is Poison* on NetGalley, I was thrilled to dive into it, and it did not disappoint. The writing is exceptional, and the interludes about the people of Campo Marzio added such richness to the narrative. Carmella’s story feels like a coming-of-age journey, but in a wholly unique and compelling way. This book was so captivating, it’s made me want to grab a La Tofana Apothecary sweatshirt. Absolutely phenomenal.

I have been fascinated by the history of Aqua Tofana ever since listening to Bailey Sarian’s podcast episode about it, so I was thrilled to read "Everything is Poison" by Joy McCullough.

The story follows Carmela Tofana as she begins apprenticing at her mother’s apothecary in 17th century Rome. She quickly discovers the apothecary's secret creation, Aqua Tofana, a tasteless and odorless poison that was sold to women to help them escape their abusive relationships. The mix of prose and poetry added a unique touch, though the fast pacing made it a bit challenging to keep track of all the characters. I really enjoyed the apothecary setting and the themes of resilience and women supporting one another.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author, which brought an extra layer of emotion and authenticity to the story. The combination of real history and fiction was woven beautifully, giving the historical aspects a modern and relatable feel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Teen, and PRH Audio for providing me with the eARC and audiobook.