The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

 

This was my kind of book!!!!

Historical Fiction set in late 18th century London? Check.

Strong female characters facing hardship with secrets?  Check.

Rambunctious girl who tries to help but messes up with devastating results?  Check.

Modern day woman trying to solve the mystery of those strong female characters facing hardships 200 years ago and having her own issues? Check and check.

Nella, Eliza and Caroline all have their own stories, pasts, and secrets, but only two of them have any hope for their future.  Nella has learned of potions and poisons and herbs from her mother, and her talents are a secret from all but those who truly need her services - oppressed women.  She lives sparsely and alone in a secret shop hidden from all of London - all except those in the know.  When 12 year old Eliza becomes a client, Nella does not want to get involved, but feels she must, and Eliza insists on helping.  Nella has more than one secret and prefers to suffer alone, but feels her heart tugged by Eliza.  When danger finds them, they must separate, in a most heartbreaking manner.  

Meanwhile, Caroline is in London (two hundred years later!!) for what was supposed to be an anniversary trip that went very awry.  A lover of history, she becomes fascinated by an apothecary's vial she finds by the river, and begins to investigate the markings on the side.  Along the way, she finds some (not all) answers about the vial and about herself too. 

I found the modern day story to be a bit trite - the whole marital problems (James is an ass, whyever would she have even liked that guy?), emotions, and improbable research.  BUT I did like how Caroline grew during her stay in London, and her ending is most satisfactory.  I would say the "ending" for Nella and Eliza is a bit more ambiguous and I would love to have a conversation with others about what they think happened in Nella's last chapter.  I know what my optimist's heart would say!  Nella is the most fascinating, as the poisoner and healer who herself is sick and wasting away.  She seems to yearn for her own end, yet when Eliza comes along she is diverted.  Nella is just downright sad, and Eliza bounces right on over that.  

Themes of motherhood, sisterhood (and I don't mean that in the bloodline sense), female empowerment and taking responsibility for your life/actions run rampant here.  Any male character is a mere outline, and frankly men are presented as all being awful here, at least in their actions towards our heroines.  I never thought of Nella as a villain, more a victim - of poverty, of abuse, and maybe of depression.

The book itself has a whole section in the back about essential oils and building your own "apothecary" shop, right down to what tea to boil to help you sleep.  A reader's guide has questions that begat more questions, and a history of mudlarking (gotta read the book to learn more!).  A fun read, and a great debut effort from a promising writer.

The Searcher by Tana French

Ireland, a broken down house, a broken marriage, a restless ex-cop....and a missing teenager. 

Sign me UP.

This book had so much more too!  I have a love-like relationship with Tana French.  Some of her books I love, some of them not so much.  This one?  Definitely a LOVE.  I even used Book Darts to mark passages and places.  Other reviewers have said this is a departure in tone for French; I hope it becomes her direction instead!!!

French does an amazing job setting the stage here.  A remote village in Ireland definitely becomes one of the characters in this story, just as much as the nosy neighbor (a man), the meddling store owner in town (a woman), and even the rooks that laugh their asses off on this American trying to fit into centuries of, well, Irish.

Cal Hooper moves to Ireland to start over and take a break.  He is jaded from his years on the Chicago force, his wife has left him for reasons that baffle him, and his daughter is grown and living her own life now.  So he moves to Ireland to get away and sets to work making his purchased-on-a-whim cabin livable.  He learns about permanent misty rain, bogs, walking, and what the men down the pub are really saying to him and warning him about. And one day, the Kid shows up from the family trailer a few miles up the mountain, totally skittish but obviously wanting something.  Trey is about 12-13, has a missing older brother, and wants Cal to find him.  Simple, right?

Nope.

The story takes a while to build; be patient.  It is atmospheric and a little bit eerie in tone. The relationship between Cal and Trey is precious and at first tenuous, almost fraught with tension.  Cal does NOT want to get involved.  Cal is restless.  Cal is curious. Cal has a strong moral core.  Sigh, of COURSE he wants to help Trey!!!  But how much trouble will it get him into?  What is he actually dealing with here?

I just thoroughly enjoyed this story.  It is about so much more that what happened to Brendan.  It is about finding yourself instead of escaping your life. I liked that we don't know what happened with Cal's marriage right away.  Pieces come together about his awkward but loving relationship with his daughter. And I love it when the setting is a character too.  All the people in this story are fully fleshed out, although I kept reading the nosy neighbor's name as Matt (it is Mart, see my visual issue??). There's a twist that I never saw coming that delighted me once I got it (well done, Tana!!).  The descriptions of the farmlands and Ireland itself are done with gorgeous prose. The rooks are hilarious.  I laughed out loud at their treatment of Cal (insert rueful eye roll here).  And Cal eventually figures out that sometimes the best way to help is to sit down and do nothing. Sometimes.

 I am only sorry I did not also listen to this one to get that amazing Irish lilt!  This book makes me want to be a Tana French completist.  I am half-way there!!!

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

In his first book, The Silent Patient, Michaelides totally blindsided me.  I did not see the ending coming.

In this book, I expected a huge twist again, so I read this one really fast to get to that ending.  It is a quick read, short chapters, and a mystery you do want to have solved. (Briefly: newly grieving group therapist Mariana has raised her niece and when one of her niece's friends is murdered at college, Mariana goes to help and protect and solve the murder, more bodies pile up, she suspects a certain professor and is determined to prove his guilt.) 

But...it was just kinda flat.  I gave it four stars on Goodreads because it did hold my interest (oh how I wish for half stars, this would have been a three and a half really), I loved the Greek Mythology nods, the setting was good.  Mariana was blind to a lot going on and missed a huge clue about the killer, and why was she so obsessed with this anyway?  Just pull her niece out of school to keep her safe and go home!!  What I felt was flat though was Mariana's obsession with proving the professor was guilty (not finding out who did it), her relationship with her niece, the whole introduction of Fred, and the reveal itself seemed way too unlikely and creepy.  I agree with other reviewers that the hints were not there.  But why should they be?  We are blindsided in this book as if we are Marianna and HAD NO IDEA. 

A bit of bull malarkey there though.  I just don't believe the ending, it doesn't add up (literally).  I do believe who the killer was, but how many people in a group therapist's life are unstable, seriously??  Mariana has dealt with a LOT of loss in her life - parents, sister, husband.  I think there was too much going on - too many red herrings and diversions that were honestly obvious.  I did not really buy into the conspiracy.  I said it was a quick read, and maybe that just means the story itself was rushed.  It also seemed weirdly unemotional. I don't want to give too much away here, so this review probably seems as disjointed as the book because there is a lot to discuss once you have read it; the spoiler alert questions on Goodreads are a good place to go debrief if you read this outside of a book club.

There is a clever and scary nod to The Silent Patient at the end which was a great wink, and if you think about it, the irony of it once you know what you know about TSP could really frighten you.  Why is it that therapists never see their loved ones in a clinical light?  The cobbler's son has no shoes syndrome??  

Interesting how the author uses the device of an unreliable narrator in such a different way here.  I do think he is better with a male protagonist. As a suspense novel, this is still a good one, just has some flaws.  I would still read another by him; this sophomore effort was just not as good as his debut.  And as I reread this review, you'd think four stars would be too much, right?  You are right, which is why it now shows as three.  Sometimes a bit of distance (and a review!) reveals more truth.