![]() ![]() ![]() His wife pays Nella for a pair of poisoned eggs, but it’s Eliza who, following Nella’s instructions, cooks and serves them. Amwell has been kind to Eliza, even taught her to read and write. With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance. They meet when Eliza, a country girl come to London for a job as a housemaid, is sent to Nella by her mistress. Now middle aged and in failing health, Nella will confess it finally to the other person who voices the historical narrative, Eliza Fanning. Why Nella began selling poison, and why she only sells it for use on men, is one of the book’s pivotal secrets. These were not weak hearts and fevers at all, but thornapple juice and nightshade slipped into wines and pies by cunning women whose names now stained my register.” In a scrupulously kept account book, she tells us, she records secrets: “Secrets about the vigorous young man who suffered an ailing heart on the eve of his wedding, or how it came to pass that a healthy new father fell victim to a sudden fever. Since her mother’s death, though, Nella has taken the business in a different direction. 7 Readers Digest 8 and Cosmopolitan 9 included it in their lists of the best books for the year. The book received positive reviews from NPR, 4 Booklist, 5 and Library Journal, 6 as well as a mixed review from Publishers Weekly. ![]() Nella’s mother was a healer, and she specialized in treating women. The Lost Apothecary is a New York Times bestseller, published Maby Park Row Books. Nella inherited the business from her mother, who taught her everything she knows about using herbs, roots, even insects to concoct tinctures and powders that can treat all sorts of ailments. ![]()
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