1791.
Nella, a female apothecary, secretly dispenses poisons to women who have been wronged by the men in their lives. But Nella is pleasantly surprised when a 12 year old girl turns up at her door requesting a poison for someone else, and a friendship starts to bloom. However dire trouble follows soon after which can jeopardise everything including their friendship.

Present Day
Caroline is spending the next ten days in London. On her own. Why? She has just found out that her husband of ten years has been having an affair. To distract her mind she stumbles upon an apothecary vial that leads her to the unsolved mystery of the apothecary murders over 200 hundred years ago. And she develops an obsession to solve it that includes very dicey decisions.

NOTE: There is a content warning at the bottom of my review but it is also a spoiler, of sorts, as it isn’t mentioned in the synopsis.

Whilst I did enjoy the book, I much preferred the 1791 timeline than the present one. Nella and Eliza (both from 1791) were great and I loved them both. I had a hard time connecting with the present, marital-problem storyline as I didn’t really enjoy it despite Caroline digging into the past of a very old apothecary vial she found. It was good but it definitely would’ve been better if it took on the role of a full time historical novel with an extremely suspenseful tale about Nella and Eliza. Especially Eliza. Sarah Penner missed out on the opportunity to branch further with Eliza’s interest in poisons and witchcraft. Her fear and conflicts could've definitely manifested into a frightening, heart-stopping tale with a band of courageous, original women protecting her and supporting her. But alas it never materialised that way *sigh*.

I’d just like to add a content warning which involves paedophilia and child molestation. It isn’t throughout the entire book but it’s still there nonetheless.