Caroline made it clear to James that she was angry with him and did not intend to forgive him.

She had hoped he would respect her wish for time alone. Meanwhile, Caroline’s husband, James, joined Caroline in London. Caroline took some pictures with her cell phone, but she was unable to explore very deeply because her phone’s battery was losing charge. Caroline climbed over the gate and discovered what appeared to be an old pharmacy that had been undisturbed for decades. One night Caroline found what had once been the alley on which the apothecary was located protected by a steel gate. Gaynor was able to inter-lay old road maps of London and modern maps to pinpoint where the apothecary might have been located. It appeared the poison killed her husband instead. Alfred, the tour guide, referred Caroline to his daughter, Gaynor, at the British Library to learn more about the vial.Ĭaroline discovered through her research what appeared to be a deathbed confession from a woman who had purchased poison from an apothecary on Bear Alley to kill her husband’s lover. The vial had what appeared to be a bear etched on it. Caroline found a blue glass apothecary vial lodged between two rocks. She was invited on a mudlarking tour to look for artifacts washed up by the River Thames and decided to go just because it sounded like something the person she was before she was married would have liked. Instead, Caroline used the trip to redefine her priorities and discover what she really wanted out of life.Ĭaroline was still reeling from the discovery that her husband had been unfaithful to her when she arrived in London alone. Two hundred years later, Caroline Parcewell visited London for what should have been a celebration of her ten-year wedding anniversary. In the late 1700s, apothecary Nella Clavinger met an unlikely friend in young Eliza Fanning, a servant sent by her mistress to purchase poison to kill her unfaithful husband. The Lost Apothecary, a novel by Sarah Penner, is a celebration of the special relationships that have bonded women together through the centuries. The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Penner, Sarah.

The lost apothecary sarah penner