"First, there was trust. Then, there was betrayal. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot be betrayed by someone you do not trust..."
★★★★⋆
Caroline is supposed to be in London on her tenth wedding anniversary trip with her husband. Caroline is in London alone, after finding out her husband has betrayed her. On her very first day she meets a tour guide who invites her mudlarking*. Desperate for something interesting to do, she goes along, and finds something that sparks the historian in her - a small vial with a bear roughly carved into the service. 300 years earlier, Nella prepares yet another poisonous tincture in her apothecary hidden in the backstreets of the city. As Caroline learns more about the vial's life, and by extension, her own, Nella feels hers may be coming to its end. Are their stories destined to be intertwined?
*mudlark [muhd-lahrk]
noun - Chiefly British. A person who gains a livelihood by searching for iron, coal, old ropes, etc. in mud or at low tide.
verb - To play in mud.
I loved this book. Sarah Penner is a beautiful writer, and magically sets the scene for the reader, both in modern day London, and its 18th Century counterpart. I really, truly, fell in love with the story as it was unfolding.
The dual timeline in this story really works. As Caroline learns more about the apothecary, so does the reader, and the jumps back in time help to set the story in stone and give the background to the apothecary that only Nella can explain. I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction, but the mysterious aspects of this book kept me guessing and intrigued, through both timelines.
I loved all three women's stories, I loved how they intertwined, and how they helped each other. They were strong, independent, and completely flawed (and we all know how much I adore a flawed character!). I expected this to be told from Caroline and Nella's points of view, but the addition of Eliza was a welcome one. It was great to have the two simultaneous stories of the apothecary and the opinions of the two different characters.
This is a reasonably short, but fast-paced, book, and yet Penner manages to tell the story in just the right amount of words. All the way through I was desperate to know what happened next, but also never wanted it to end. Each chapter ended on a little cliffhanger, and then jumped to another character's point of view, which made me want to keep reading. And yet, I still liked the ending (and the epilogue!)...
I 100% recommend this book - it is magical without being fantasy, and historical without being overly complicated or full of facts. Truly a wonderful debut from Penner.
Content warnings: gaslighting; and mentions of murder, death, poison, miscarriage (occasionally forced).
Buy this book on Hive, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, or Waterstones, or your local!
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