Later, Eliza revealed that she had been a victim of sexual harassment by Mr. Amwell, to buy poison so she could murder her husband. And, since then, she had been helping other women do the same.Įliza Fanning met Nella, after the former had been asked by her mistress, Mrs. As revenge, Nella murdered him with poison from her apothecary shop. After learning that she was pregnant, he poisoned her, so that she would have a miscarriage. This activity of Nella had begun when her lover, Frederick, betrayed her. Every time she did so, Nella wrote both her name and the victim’s name in her notebook. In 1791, Nella Clavinger had an apothecary shop, in London, where she dispensed poison to women who desired to murder men who had wronged them. The book The Lost Apothecary, authored by Sarah Penner, is divided into two timelines: the events that happened in 1791 and the ones in the present moment.

The word apothecary is evocative, drawing forth visions of a candlelit storefront with sash windows, its walls lined with. It is here that I first spotted a fragment of a mid-seventeenth century delftware apothecary jar-the inspiration for The Lost Apothecary. In the book, he shares striking images of interesting things he's found near the River Thames.

I first learned about mudlarking years ago while reading London in Fragments: A Mudlark's Treasures by Ted Sandling. Today, mudlarking instead represents a pastime for locals and tourists alike. Victorian children used to scrounge around in the mud looking for items to sell for money to support their families. Over the course of several days, I went down to the river three separate times, finding an assortment of pottery, clay pipes, metal pins, and even animal bones.Īs readers learn from Bachelor Alf early in The Lost Apothecary, mudlarking has been around for hundreds of years. In my backpack was a small card-my temporary license from the Port of London Authority, granting me access to go mudlarking on the river's foreshore. In the summer of 2019, I found myself along the banks of the River Thames in London, wearing old tennis shoes and blue latex gloves. Interview Sarah Penner discusses how she found inspiration for her debut novel, The Lost Apothecary while mudlarking on the shores of the River Thames.

Sarah penner the lost apothecary