Storyline
In 1791 London, Nella an apothecary carries forward her mother's legacy by continuing to run her apothecary shop for women's maladies situated on 3 Back Alley. After suffering betrayal by the man she loved, she changes her path and starts dispensing poisons along with the medicines. She began to help women in a similar predicament to hers by providing them with means to get rid of their problems. From a barren wife to a jilted woman, she helped them all. She meticulously made note of every tincture she had ever dispensed. The second timeline is in the present time when Caroline after being cheated on by her husband embarks on a trip to London alone. The trip was to be a tenth anniversary celebratory trip for them. But it turned into a trip of self-realization and discovering her own identity. On a whim, she goes mudlarking and discovers an old apothecary bottle in the Thames. Thus began her journey to uncover the origins of the bottle and along the way finding her true passion.
My Thoughts
Usually, in a dual timeline book at least one of the storylines is captivating enough and holds your interest. But somehow here, none of the stories grabbed my attention. Nella's story of a female apothecary living in late eighteenth-century London had immense potential but the story didn't pan out as it should have. It dragged so much that after a point I was struggling to finish the book. In the other timeline, Caroline's discovery of the bottle and later her subsequent discovery of the apothecary itself was nothing short of a miracle. What astounded me was how just one google search led her to the article related to a 200-year-old bottle. Talk about the accuracy of the Google search! Furthermore, she could locate the apothecary store itself that was standing intact in the middle of London nearly 200 years later, hidden from everyone. I was unable to draw any parallel between the two stories. I would not recommend the book.
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