The Apothecary's Daughter

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Lilly Haswell, the daughter of a small village apothecary, yearns for a life filled with love and adventure that will take her away from her hometown of Bedsley Priors. She spends her days assisting in her father's apothecary shop with his apprentice, Francis Baylor, and she has an excellent talent for remembering and preparing remedies. Lilly's mother left her family three years ago without a word, and Lilly still looks for her return. When Lilly's fashionable and wealthy relations offer her an extended stay in London, complete with the promise of tutors, gowns, and balls, Lilly concedes even though she will terribly miss her father and her handicapped brother, Charlie. Lilly travels to London with the aspirations to further her education, experience adventures, make new acquaintances, and perhaps, find some clues about her mother's disappearance. This book is wonderful, also, because it has skilfully showed two different worlds, and entwined them in what it feels like a beautiful painting, showing the two faces of the story’s reality: the small town life, and the polite upper society one, both of them showing that they have equal amounts of lights and shadows, that none of them is perfect, but love is, at the end, what makes you choose one or the other. Lilly belongs to the two of them, as she is both refined enough for a London ballroom, and highly skilled to prepare the medicines and tonics needed in her father’s shop, having the sincere trust of those who count on it, and the Haswells’ knowledge.

I enjoyed the first Julie Klassen book I read a year or so ago, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall, but this one and The Girl in the Gatehouse were a little disappointing. In fact I voted it my favourite book for January. I don't read a lot of historical novels, but this one conjured up such a vision rich in detail and texture that I found I couldn't put it down. I honestly felt like I had stepped into the 1600's. To be honest, that is one era of history that has always fascinated me - the plague and the Great Fire of London. I was pleased that the author really brought it to life for me with her vivid descriptions. I was amazed to discover that Islington used to be thought of as countryside!

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You would not think London in the time of the plague would be good material for a romantic novel, but Charlotte Betts pulls it off superbly. The book tells the tale of Susannah, who, after the re-marriage of her father to the shallow and demanding Arabella, is forced to leave her erstwhile home to find marriage herself. As in all romances, the path of true love does not run smoothly, and in Charlotte Betts's novel, there are obstacles aplenty - not least her new husband, Henry Savage, who turns out to have quite a few secrets Susannah doesn't know about. The novel does not shirk from portraying the harsher realities of everyday life in the 17th century - slavery, the non-participation of women in society, and these aspects add depth to the story. I loved the writing. I loved the setting. I loved the period. I loved the characters. I enjoyed reading the story and seeing all the historical detail regarding apothecaries.

I liked this for its historical setting being a bit different - 1665, so after the Restoration and just before the Great Fire and right in the middle of the plague. I liked the way that London life was dealt with in a realistic way, and I really enjoyed the details of the apothecary. I wanted to like this a lot more than I did though, becuase ultimately it feel a bit short of my expectations.

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Having been very impressed with Lily though, they wrote to invite her to stay with them in London to enjoy the season in hopes she might find a nice match. Knowing her father's apprentice, Francis, could take her duties in the shop, Lily set off from the only home she had never known to an adventure she never dreamed possible. Yes because anything read by Davina Porter is better than reading it myself. I love to listen to her- Covers topics such as faith, love, deceit, forgiveness, and always under the shadow of the Inquisition.

Thank you for taking the time to tell me you liked the book. Phoebe, Joseph and Emmanuel were such favourites of mine that they have cameo roles in The Painter’s Apprentice, so you might like that, too! My favorite thing about this story is that you didn't know who Lily was going to end up with. Often the reader knows fairly early who will end up together and the rest of the story is about their ups and downs. I liked that this was Lily's story and she wasn't sure who she wanted until the very end. I also like how you see Lily's growth and maturity throughout the book as well as the ending. It is very satisfying and not all tired up with a ' happily ever after' bow-it isn't tragic but it is realistic. Well, to the review. I doubt I can truly do justice to all the wonderful details in this book, but I’ll try.Inside the apothecary shop Susannah stood by the light of the window, daydreaming and grinding flowers of sulphur into a malodorous dust as she watched the world go by. Fleet Street, as always, was as busy as an anthill. The morning’s snow was already dusted with soot from the noxious cloud blown in from the kilns at Limehouse and the frost made icebergs of the surging effluent in the central drain. Church bells clanged and dogs barked while a ceaseless stream of people flowed past. This is above all a romance but the authors canny research and ability to convey perfectly what it would feel like to witness unspeakable events unfolding, lift it from the mundane to the delightful. As well as the unfolding romance we are introduced to plague and pestilence, the development of medicine, slavery, the fire of London and the inequality of women all very well written and researched and conveyed in a way which isn't "preachy or teachy" It’s a pleasure to read an historical book from an author who actually cares about historical accuracy, and sits there to do the research, towards the goal of taking readers to another era. And while there is this kind of people in the world, the past centuries will not be utterly gone, because we will always find a way to return to them. I always say that a story doesn’t have to belong to the fantasy genre to have magic in it… There’s many types of it, and this is only one them.

A proposal of marriage from the charming Henry Savage seems to offer Susannah an escape. But as the plague sweeps through London, tragedy strikes, and dark secrets in her husband’s past begin to unfold. It will take all of Susannah’s courage and passion to save herself from tragedy . . . This book is a odd mix of genres - it couldn't make its mind up if it was a police procedural or a historical fiction with paranormal overtones. Out of the two storylines, I preferred Kitty's, she was a much more interesting character than anyone in the modern story. This odd mix meant that it felt a bit disjointed & Ray's connection to Kitty was very strange. A few sightings of a ghost haunting the cottage & some dreams I can sort of understand but about two thirds of the way through it takes an even stranger turn. Whilst in bed with girlfriend Sarah, she is 'replaced' by Kitty & Ray sleeps with her. Sex with ghosts? Is this Greys Anatomy? Could it technically be considered a threesome? What is even worse is that it intimates that this actually happened to Kitty in her time & that Ray takes her virginity. This puts Kitty at risk as the local witchfinder is intent on proving that Kitty has been consorting with the devil, & as a single woman, not being a virgin will be a death sentence. This is definitely a must read for those who love historical fiction. In my case, I wanted to read this one for so many years, that I thought I’d be disappointed when I finally could, because my expectations were too high; but that didn’t happened; I utterly loved this book, and it is an astounding YES to the rest of the books by this author. Go ahead, you won’t be disappointed, and I hope you love it as much as I did! Donna Theodora is a beautiful nineteen year old girl who being brought up in an abbey, has seen nothing outside the abbey walls, and knows nothing of this world. When she is send for to be the bride of a wealthy nobleman Count Leonardo. She slowly grows into the role of the noble-lady of the mansion, with the devotion of her Nubian servants, especially her aged hand maid and housekeeper, Halla. Is this book Austenesque? Not really, although this book takes place in the same Regency time period of many of Jane Austen's novels there aren't a lot of similarities between Ms. Klassen's and Ms. Austen's writing, characters, and style.The three suitors are great characters, and, in a way or another, I loved the three of them. The romance is not a sparky, passionate one, but a rather sweet, quiet love that grows between the characters, and, at some point, they realize life is no life if the other isn’t there. I loved it, because you go with Lilly step by step, and her feelings are your feelings at some point, about her missing mother (with every clue she finds), her father and brother, her friends, her suitors, her patients… She’s a true historical fiction heroine.