Review: The Lost Apothecary

I randomly picked up The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner, from my Mother-in-Law's (z"l) bookshelf, read a few pages and was hooked. F from there, I couldn't put it down. In short, while it's not perfect, it was a delightful read and one that was both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Spoilers Below. Go read the book.

The plot, the philosophizing, the characters, I'm here for it all. I appreciated the symmetry and timelessness of both the historic and modern-day story and was impressed with how poisons were tied into both. I fell into every trap Penner set for me, from thinking that James may be a decent guy to thinking Eliza was dead. I'm sure a more observant reader would have picked up on the (in hindsight) obvious clues; but not me.

I liked the story enough that I was fine with suspending my disbelief that a property in downtown London would lay untouched for hundreds of years. And the fact that just about every man in the text is some degree of sleazeball, well sure, why not. Girl power for the win!

I generally appreciated the book's philosophizing. When Caroline challenges that there's a difference between being happy and being fulfilled, I found myself agreeing. Clearly delaying gratification for a bigger goal is a powerful life skill. But what are the limits of this? More than anything, I appreciated that the book gave me a chance to chew on these ideas.

I also appreciated Nella's mission of capturing the names of the women she helps in her registrar. That humble act was a way of recording for posterity that which would normally be forgotten. One of the missions of my blog is to do the same: to try to leave a mark, however insignificant, for those to find in the future.

So yeah, Penner had me. That was, until the last two pages of the book. When Caroline decides that Eliza and the vial would be "one secret I would not share." I found myself mouthing a slow-motion 'Noooooooooo' as she chucked the vial in the Thames.

This decision to withhold Eliza's story from her research struck me as flawed in a number of ways. First off, it seems to have the ethical equivalence of a police officer planting evidence 'just this once.' And more to the theme of the text, isn't Caroline's goal to bring stories of regular people to life? Hiding Eliza and the physical evidence she existed seems directly counter to this.

Respecting the story itself, Eliza's elixir fended off hypothermia. If such a concoction could be replicated in the lab, Eliza's 'magic' could have potentially life-saving implications. How could Caroline not see that there's an opportunity to not just tell Eliza's story, but have it be elevated into one of discovery and world impact?

If you're looking for a fun, fast paced, historic read The Lost Apothecary may be just the tonic you're looking for.