This capable novel is seemingly one which most people either love or hate: I've seen several reviews which state that it was a major "let-down," which I didn't really get. Perhaps others had expectations that I did not, because I found it at least entertaining. I was quite relieved, in fact, to see that it wasn't an overt or obvious "feminist" novel, per se, despite my initial suspicions, although female empowerment is definitely a prominent theme.
The novel is written from the perspective of three women in very different circumstances: Nella is The Apothecary, who takes over her mother's shop after her death, and, in addition to dispensing medications and elixers for common aliments to women, also sells them poisons to dispose of troublesome men, however defined.
Twelve-year-old Eliza, a maid in the household of a wealthy woman who dispatches her to procure Nella's services, gets more than she bargained for in the encounter. When she's sent away from the home while her mistress is out of town, Eliza becomes Nella's sometime-apprentice, although her inexperience causes some major problems. Eliza's happy to spend some time away from the estate, and certainly does not miss her master: it appears that he has a habit of drugging and raping his maids, even resulting in the death of one in childbirth, and Eliza narrowly escapes becoming his next victim. This was indeed a sad yet common occurrence for women in service, well into the twentieth century even in Britain, and, of course, it still persists today in many places. However, it appears that the house is now haunted, by both the murdered man and the young maid, both of whom make Eliza's life there intolerable.
The major twist in the novel is Caroline, a thirty-something who is on a sole vacation, meant to be a ten-year-anniversary celebration, without her husband, after finding out about his infidelity. She decides to travel to London to do some much-needed and timely soul-searching before deciding on her future path. Fate intercedes, of course, and Caroline finds herself caught up in a story which seemingly takes on a life of its own.
The three women's lives intertwine over the course of centuries and circumstances, when Caroline inexplicably finds a mysterious vial while "mudlarking" on the banks of the Thames. As a researcher and history student, her curiosity gets the better of her (something to which I can relate!), and she embarks on a journey of discovery to find out about the mysterious vial which she just can't get out of her mind. She engages the help of the mudlarking guide's daughter, who happens to work at a library in the maps department, who is similarly intrigued and eager to assist.
Things take a turn when Caroline's unfaithful husband shows up unexpectedly. He's clearly a narcissist, as portrayed, entitled and self-centered, with the characteristic habit of blaming her for everything that goes wrong, and for both of their unhappiness, displaying misdirected anger at her for not just forgiving his cheating and forgetting the whole thing. He engages in an outrageous attempt to manipulate her when he does show up, which, fortunately she sees through. It also turns out that Caroline wanted to apply for a graduate program at Cambridge, which he discouraged. And on top of everything else: the couple had apparently been trying to conceive, which makes the infidelity all the more unbearable.
Meanwhile, centuries past, Nella is engaged by a wealthy woman who wants to dispose of her husband's mistress, who also happens to be his cousin. Things don't go according to plan, however, and all involved find themselves in peril. Things get sticky when Nella's illicit activities are discovered, and she finds that she is suspected of several other mysterious deaths as well.
I don't want to provide too many spoilers, here, but the novel was interesting enough to keep me reading. I found some of it anachronistic, however, especially the mentality of the eighteenth-century characters, who were definitely written from a twenty-first-century perspective, but that was mostly forgivable. Interweaving multiple narratives is tricky, and this is a good example, where it was only just mildly successful. Each of the characters may as well be the same person, as there just wasn't sufficient difference in the way in which the accounts were written to make it believable that they were actually different people, especially the account of a twelve-year-old.
Girl-power was definitely omnipresent, but not overpowering. Feminist themes in the novel include woes over pregnancy, specifically the lack thereof, in the figures of both Nella and Caroline, menstruation (the fact that little Eliza believes that her first period is caused by the vengeful spirit of the murdered husband of her mistress was a curious twist here), infidelity, manipulation and the control of women's lives by the men in them, which here clearly spans the centuries, albeit in different ways, and companionship, if sometimes reluctant. I was more than slightly creeped out by Eliza's encounter by "Tom Pepper," a bookshop owner, whose story mirrors that of Nella somewhat, and whose character doesn't really get developed. In keeping with the theme that men are the villains, he, too, seemingly manipulates young Eliza, giving her a book to endear her to him and to keep her coming back. No spoiler, but this remains an unresolved thread at the end: does she, or doesn't she?? ...
There were also several implausible aspects of the story, which were admittedly difficult to get beyond. This pertains specifically to the "secret" room, which has apparently been sealed since the late eighteenth century. ?? If you know anything about London, this is fiction indeed: destruction during WWII was extensive, and much of "lower-class" London, including the infamous Whitechapel district, the one-time haunt of Jack the Ripper, was flattened during the Blitz. What survived was mostly also demolished to make way for luxury flats which today sell for millions of pounds, in the same area once frequented by prostitutes and penniless vagrants who could afford little more than a four-pence "doss" for the night. Hence, the inference that a building would survive in inner-city London, unoccupied and abandoned, was a stretch, and that the small "back alley" room where Nella had her shop remained undiscovered was even more so.
As some other reviewers have noted, I was perhaps expecting more from the main character, also. The way she's portrayed, she's just something of a stock character, rather than what I was expecting, and ends up being rather one-dimensional, neither a hero nor an anti-hero, which was admittedly disappointing. I was hoping that the novel would delve into her character much more - a serial killer who poisons men doesn't make anyone a hero in my book (!), but she still could have been an interesting figure, if there was any degree of depth, which was sadly lacking. All that said, despite its obvious flaws, and sometimes-flat and simplistic prose, it's still worth a read if you're looking for something light, but also something which has a few interesting twists and turns.
