The Lost Apothecary is Sarah Penner's debut novel filled with mystery and history. In all, it is a fluff read. You will find this novel despite its poisonous nature, to be light in depth and worth your time because it is easy to digest ... unlike poisons.

It is told over a two week time period and follows the story of a lost apothecary and is worth an hour because it will take that long to read.

Told through three viewpoints: Eliza's, Nella's, and Caroline's, you will read the story of a lost apothecary in London. It is very fast and is prompted by the discovery of a curious vial with a bear insignia etched on the glass.

You follow Caroline's determination to discover the origins of the vial and the apothecary it came from. It is a plot easy to comprehend with a few moments that require suspension of disbelief but overall is a simple and nice plot to read.

There is Nella, the brewer of poisons; Eliza, a hand-maid and new acquaintance of Nella's; and Caroline, the discoverer of the vial. Eliza was my favourite character, she is a twelve-year-old with an inquisitive mind who wants to know about the poison's in Nella's shop.

Nella is a quiet character who, if you decide to read The Lost Apothecary, may agree with could have benefited from a bit more background development. You only touch the surface of why she began to brew poisons and a bit more insight may have made her more enticing as a character.

In all, the three narrators could have benefited from a bit more depth, but are still decent and make the novel worth a read.

Peaceful. You will not be upset reading this.

I found The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner to be a worthwhile read. It contained enticing elements such as secret poisons but also bland elements like James who was 100% the worst and certain elements were a bit implausible. Honestly, how often does an iPhone's battery die that quickly because of the flashlight? Now, if she had some apps open, I would take back my critique. And, Caroline just sauntered into a 200 year old abandoned building? She could have destroyed it or died! That whole scene had me frustrated, please do not explore ruins, even ones that really aren't that old.

You know what else concerned me, the fact that James drank eucalyptus oil. At first, I could not believe an adult would ingest the oil. I own so many large vials of the stuff and in bright bold laters it states toxic: do not ingest, multiple times and immediately I was thinking to myself, what adult would not know how to read a label?

And then, turns out he intentionally poisoned himself. So, I felt more justified in my judgment because he did read the label and then still decided it would be worthwhile to consume a toxic substance. Damn, he was gaslighting Caroline hard. I am glad the story included her growth and separation from James and that mudlarking led her to a fascinating discovery. The Lost Apothecary is an easy read and one I enjoyed.