The chapters alternate between first person narratives of Nella and Eliza (apothecary) in 1791 and present day Caroline.

Nella runs a secret apothecary where she helps women poison men who have betrayed them. Caroline in the present day finds a vial from 200 years ago and seeks to unravel the mystery of the apothecary killer.

The book was an easy read and has a very interesting plot. A page-turner, I was not once bored. However, the author tends to over-elaborate, describing every single action the character takes. Like “keying in the passcode on my phone” and “swiping up to kill the app”. At times, the descriptions help build realistic images and settings for the book, but at other times they come off mechanical. Another downside was the impractical/absurd reasonings given by the author for Caroline’s actions. She first finds the vial by chance, then does little to no research (Gaynor doing most of the literary search), then finds an abandoned door by chance again, and then puts so much weight to her “illegal act of trespassing”. After which she practically sees herself as a rebel and historian.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the book, and it was a lot of fun reading about the apothecary and getting to know Nella and Eliza.