The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Penner, Sarah. The Lost Apothecary. Park Row, March 2, 2021. Kindle.

The Lost Apothecary, a novel by Sarah Penner, is a celebration of the special relationships that have bonded women together through the centuries. In the late 1700s, apothecary Nella Clavinger met an unlikely friend in young Eliza Fanning, a servant sent by her mistress to purchase poison to kill her unfaithful husband. Two hundred years later, Caroline Parcewell visited London for what should have been a celebration of her ten-year wedding anniversary. Instead, Caroline used the trip to redefine her priorities and discover what she really wanted out of life.

Caroline was still reeling from the discovery that her husband had been unfaithful to her when she arrived in London alone. She was invited on a mudlarking tour to look for artifacts washed up by the River Thames and decided to go just because it sounded like something the person she was before she was married would have liked. Caroline found a blue glass apothecary vial lodged between two rocks. The vial had what appeared to be a bear etched on it. Alfred, the tour guide, referred Caroline to his daughter, Gaynor, at the British Library to learn more about the vial.

Caroline discovered through her research what appeared to be a deathbed confession from a woman who had purchased poison from an apothecary on Bear Alley to kill her husband’s lover. It appeared the poison killed her husband instead. Gaynor was able to inter-lay old road maps of London and modern maps to pinpoint where the apothecary might have been located. One night Caroline found what had once been the alley on which the apothecary was located protected by a steel gate. Caroline climbed over the gate and discovered what appeared to be an old pharmacy that had been undisturbed for decades. Caroline took some pictures with her cell phone, but she was unable to explore very deeply because her phone’s battery was losing charge.

Meanwhile, Caroline’s husband, James, joined Caroline in London. She had hoped he would respect her wish for time alone. Caroline made it clear to James that she was angry with him and did not intend to forgive him. He claimed he had the affair because their lives were too predictable. While Caroline remembered how James had jockeyed her into that predictable life, she realized she was not happy in the relationship either. She had lost sight of who she wanted to be.

James began complaining of a cold and asked Caroline if she had cold medicine. She offered him eucalyptus oil to rub on his chest and throat. Just a short while later, James became deathly ill and had to be taken to the hospital, unconscious, by paramedics. A medic happened to see Caroline’s notebook where she had been taking notes and formulating questions based on pictures she had taken of a register she located in the apothecary shop. The questions included what amount of a non-toxic substance might be required to kill a person as well as a list of common poisons.

Police questioned Caroline, but Gaynor came to Caroline’s rescue, confirming she had been helping Caroline research an apothecary murderer even though Gaynor was unaware of the depth of Caroline’s research. Later, James admitted that he drank the eucalyptus oil, which he knew was poisonous, because he believed getting sick would prompt Caroline to take him back. Instead, Caroline filed for a separation.

With the encouragement of Gaynor, Caroline applied to graduate school. She used Nella Clavinger, the “killer” apothecary, as the topic of her dissertation. The project allowed her to go back to the abandoned pharmacy and explore it more carefully. She learned that Eliza had sacrificed herself for her older friend, but she had survived her fall into the River Thames. Caroline chose to keep the secret of Eliza’s sacrifice to herself.

Although Caroline never learns the nuances of Eliza and Nella’s friendship, narration by Nella and Eliza are interspersed throughout the book, giving the reader background Caroline does not have. The book ends with excerpts from Caroline’s dissertation including several recipes for poisons and the men for whom they are ideal.