Book review: The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
Julie Klassen is an American author of five historical novels. She has a great love for the Regency period, and this is the time in which her books mostly take place.
If I like a book, I will talk about it with friends and recommend it around. But if I réally like a book, I will try and email the author, to compliment him/her with the book. This was what I did with Julie Klassen's first novel: Lady of Milkweed Manor (I got a really nice reply back!). You can understand my eagerness to read more of this author's work!
In The Apothecary's Daughter, we meet Lilly Haswell, the daughter of an apothecary in a small English town. As her mother has left the family some years earlier and her brother is mentally handicapped, it falls to Lilly to help her father around the store. Though she enjoys preparing medicine and helping her fellow townspeople, Lilly dreams of a different life. So when relatives of her mother ask her to spend time with them in London, she jumps at the chance. Lilly experiences the London season and attracts several suitors. But then a letter arrives from home, informing her that her father is seriously ill. Does Lilly have another choice than to return to the apothecary and take care of her father? And what will become of the men she leaves behind in London?
Lilly is a lovely character: smart, inquisitive, caring and loyal. She is well written and her character develops in the novel from a dreamy young girl with many doubts to a decisive and strong woman. The premise of the novel is very interesting and authentic. Taking place at the start of the 19th century, we learn much about the apothecaries craft, but also of the collision between the three medical professions of the time: the apothecary, the doctor and the barber surgeon. As there were not yet many laws as to what was allowed for a doctor or an apothecary to do, all three professions exerted themselves for the business of as many patients as possible. Each chapter starts with an interesting historical quote about the medical profession of the time.
Unfortunately, as well-written the historical background is, so much the story-telling of The Apothecary's Daughter falls short. The first third of the novel, dealing mainly with Lilly's time in London, has a nice flow and direction. But after Lilly returns to the countryside, the story goes suddenly into all different directions. Characters are introduced, but never worked out. Possibilities for relationships are hinted at, but just as suddenly dropped again. Lilly finds herself in a love triangle with two men, but this storyline never becomes very convincing, as one of the men is a character we learn very little about. You wonder why she is attracted by him in the first place, but also why she decided to break of their relationship, as you simply do not get to know this men. A large and surprising twist in the story is revealed a short while before the novel's ending, and there is not enough story left to elaborate on this development.
Still, I must say I liked reading The Apothecary's Daughter. The historical background and interesting main character gave me enough reason to finish the novel with pleasure. And I will most definitely not give up on Julie Klassen. With such a great first novel and such interesting historical backgrounds (also in her newer novels, as I've read on the cover texts), I'm sure I'll soon pick up another novel by her!