Overall: 4.5 /5 Stars
Summary of review:
I loved this book! It is a little slow at the beginning. But I loved everything about it.
Summary:
The story is told in two POVs.
1791: A apothecary (Nella) who secretly poisons men to help women who have been wronged by them. Nella has a lot of secrets of her own about her past as well. She meet a young girl who becomes her apprentice. She starts to teach her like her mother taught Nella. One small mistake though in the apothecary, leads to a chain of events.
Present day: Caroline who just left her cheating husband. She leaves for London to re-think her marriage. One day, she discovers a bottle in the mud. She begins to look for the origins of this bottle and starts an investigation into murders that occurred in the 1700s.
My thoughts:
What a unique plot! Half way through the book, I could not put it down.
The characters were just great. The book is written in alternating narratives. I really enjoyed reading about both POVs. The characters were also complex. The characters are similar, but the stories were completely different. It was like two books in one. I loved how Caroline was researching Nella’s story. We got pieces of her story not only told by Nella but also through Caroline.
The story is narrated in dual timelines – Caroline in present day and Nella in 1791. The past and the present intertwined perfectly. I have a hard time with some novels try so hard to intertwine two stories, but this was done great!
I am very critical on historical fiction. I like the novels not to “mansplain” everything. This book does a wonderful job at not doing that at all.
Conclusion:
I enjoyed this book a lot – from the pretty cover, intriguing plot, complex characters, the mystery and suspense – this book has it all! I highly recommend this book.
Trigger warning: Molestation (vague), adultery