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One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose – selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate – and not everyone will survive.

First, props to the cover designer–it totally grabbed my attention for a book I normally wouldn’t have picked up.

This was an interesting book: three characters of different ages in two time periods whose lives connect together. I listened to the audiobook and almost stopped after the first chapter–the narrator was pretty melodramatic, so I wasn’t sure if I’d like to story. The other two POV characters weren’t quite so deep and morose, though, so I kept going.

Overall … interesting. A little repetitive in places, which made it wordy in places. While some people would celebrate the decisions at the end of the book, they saddened me a bit (but I realize that my biblical conservative views on marriage and relationships aren’t always the norm in general market fiction). Still, I wanted to know what happened, so I kept with the book. It’s not one that I’d read again, but I would probably recommend it.

Rated PG-13 for some swearing, murder, and adult topics.

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For more dual timeline women’s fiction, check out:

Songs for a Sunday by Heather Norman Smith
Where Treasure Lies by Amanda Tru