The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner is a story of murder and struggling romances. Apothecary, by definition, means a person who prepares and sells homemade remedies and medicines. However, in this story that remedy is one of death.

The story starts off with the prospective of a woman named Nadia who is the owner of an Apothecary shop in London during 1791. The story switches from point of view between Nadia’s perspective in 1791 and Caroline’s in present day. Caroline who is a married woman on her 10-year anniversary alone in London discovers a bottle while mud rucking, and it shines light on the dark history of Nadia’s apothecary shop. Nadia’s shop was strictly for women, but her mother owned it was just for regular Apothecary products, such as harmless herbs. 

This book has a lot of focus on how men have hurt women and how said women get their revenge. This is backup by the fact that only women can recommend Nadia’s shop and how there is no other way to find it. If you need something to kill an oppressive man in your life you write her a letter saying what you need and what time you need it. When reading about Caroline’s past and why she is alone in London it gives a great example about how you can lose yourself for love. When her past is described, she talks about how often she wonders if she would have taken a risk in following her passions instead of taking the safe path. Both women relate to each other in how they gave all of themselves to a man and was let down and broken by them. While Nadia threw herself into her work and became a shop for women who wanted to kill a man in their life, Caroline threw herself into her old passions hoping to rekindle an  old spark while she does this, she uncovers a mystery just waiting to be solved. 

This book is currently $23.49 at Barnes & Noble’s. Some things to think about before buying, as said previously, is that the book’s point of views changes from chapter to chapter. While the book does an amazing job at making the switches seamless and understandable things such as constant POV changes can be a deal breaker for many readers. This book deals with murder and is a major plot point in the story, so if murder is a triggering subject for you, especially death by poisoning, this book is not the right fit.