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Suspenseful Yet Inconsistent: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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The Gist: A suspenseful novel told in two timelines, 1791 and 2020, explores the motives behind unsolved apothecary murders yet, unfortunately, suffers from inconsistent pacing.

Series: Standalone

Release Date: March 2, 2021

Synopsis
A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course. Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.

One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.

Ending
HEA for Eliza and Caroline. Nella makes peace with her life and choices before passing for her illness (I imagine because her death wasn’t explicitly on-page).
Representation
No strong representations of the following:
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Murder
• Allusion to pedophilia
• Description of past miscarriage
• Infidelity
• Self-harm — Caroline’s husband purposefully poisons himself to manipulate Caroline in the hopes of winning her back
• Discussion of suicide
Mature Themes: Yes
• the business of murder
• (im)morality of revenge and vengeance
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Paperback

Rating: 3.5-stars

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