The Lost Apothecary

Admittedly, the back of this book was a bit misleading. I was honestly expecting a bit more intrigue and darker mood to the story, but I still enjoyed the overall execution.

Written in a dual timeline – present day and in the 18th century London – The Lost Apothecary follows the story of Caroline Parcewell as she rediscovers both herself and the history of a murderous apothecary from the 18th century named Nella.

Dual timeline can be tricky to execute properly, and I genuinely cannot say this was one of the better dual timeline novels that I have ever read. That being said, I didn’t hate the present day timeline. I did, however, love the historical timeline. If the present day timeline had been deleted entirely, the book would’ve stood just fine. Caroline’s story would not have held up very well without Nella’s story, as her character arc needed Nella’s story to develop.

There were a lot of twists and turns that popped up throughout the story, especially when following the historical timeline. The climax of the story had me completely absorbed in the pages, unable to put the book down until I read the final word.

The writing style was okay – it wasn’t the best, but also wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read. The characters were all well-written and had substance or attributes that made them either likeable or very unlikeable. Caroline’s husband, for instance, was a reflection of that one guy that most women have dated at some point in their lives (unless you are a very lucky woman). He didn’t have much substance to him per se, but despite his lack of appearance throughout the novel, the reader knew exactly the kind of man he was and I, for one, am grateful he did not take up more ink than he was provided.

Overall, I do recommend this book if you enjoy novels with a female protagonist on a journey of self-rediscovery, 18th century mysteries, and books with a few twists.

If this book were a movie, I would rate it PG-13 due to the darker topics discussed (murder and suicide), sexual topics (nothing explicit or spicy), and drug use.