The Apothecary's Daughter

This story is an English period romance with a delightful mixture of daunting circumstances and inspiring victories that leaves you feeling that we can rise above any situation with perseverance and prayer. I must say that the sparse insertions of Christian aspects & practices was a little disappointing to me, but it is very wholesome, & proves you don't need to include sex & obscenities to create a very good, believable & compelling story. Julie Klassen's characters, setting & story line are so detailed & believable, you feel like you're actually taking part rather than just reading about it. Her details of life in those days & of the apothecary's trade show that she has done her homework, & I am pleased but not surprised by its many above average ratings. Living in the tiny, quaint village of Bedsley Priors would lead you to expect the characters' lives to be idyllic & nearly perfect as well, but this is definitely not the case. Mr. Haswell is an apothecary whose wife has left him three years previously for reasons largely unknown & with no clue when or if she will ever return..He has struggled alone to raise & care for their two children while running his busy apothecary shop, the only one in the village. His lovely young daughter Lilly has been a quick study in the apothecary business, with excellent abilities & memory. Unknown to Lilly, her father's young apprentice with whom she has practically grown up has fallen in love with her. He tries to show, & even to tell her, but his shyness & feelings of inadequacy prevent him from making his feelings known. Lilly's brother Charlie, though a bit too slow mentally to become an apothecary delights in gardening & watching things grow. An invitation for Lilly to stay with her aunt & uncle in London brings some big changes both to Lilly herself & to her family, giving her a taste of life's finer things, as well as some fine romantic possibilities. It also forces her to face some difficult situations & make some tough decisions, culminating with her necessity to return home to discover her family & the shop in great turmoil. Just when it seems there is no way out, God "makes a way where there seems to be no way" to help set things right again. While the end of the story was what I expected & hoped for, some surprising plot twists prevented the "I knew it" feeling, & also kept this charming story interesting & compelling from beginning to end. I highly recommend it, especially for fans of English period fiction.

The story line of The Apothecary's Daughter really held my interest. I was eager to see what was coming up next, and as usual Klassen gives attention to historical detail without becoming too tedious. I loved all of the tidbits about how apothecaries worked, the ailments and remedies used to treat them. The main problem for me is the development of the main character, Lilly.`I felt like she was somewhat inconsistent. It may have been an effort to keep the reader guessing about which suitor she would choose, but at times it came across as fickle & unrealistic. There was a fine line between Lilly being confused about her feelings and appearing to be interested in more than one person. I would have just preferred a little more constancy on that note. On the other hand, over the course of the novel, Lilly really changes and matures. At the outset of the story, she is so eager to make her season in London a success, and I think that blinds her a bit to what type of person she really wants to be and also what type of person that she wants to marry. I just felt like her "feelings" for one particular suitor were left in question for too long, after it was perfectly clear that he was not the one for her. Toward the end, she learns to be content with her life and realizes that what she wanted was right there all along. I liked going on that journey with her and was very pleased with the ending. While it was happy, the happiness did not come cheaply, as so often is the case with real life. At this point, I've read all of Klassen's novel, with the exception of the to-be-released title, of course, and while I enjoyed it, I have to say that it is my least favorite simply because of some of the character issues that Lilly created at times in the story. Other than those few instances, I was well pleased with this read. There was even an element of surprise to the ending, which I really enjoyed. Recommended for those who have enjoyed Klassen's other novels and historical novels that are on the clean side.

I will start by saying that I am NOT a reader of "Christian Fiction", or I should rephrase that and say I WASN'T - and incidentally, that is the only proselytizing going on in relation to this book. Several reviewers have tagged it as such and I do not agree. In fact, there was nothing overtly religious in this book other than the fact that the characters mentioned praying to God a few times. One of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much is because it was clean, no lurid sex scenes or vulgarity, no crude language or violence, just a perfectly written, believable, engaging and sweet story of family, life and love. And unlike most romance novels, it wasn't clear until the very end which suitor was going to win out over the others, I kept changing my mind about who it would be! I also really enjoyed the true history and details of The Worshipful Society of Apothocaries and the Regency Era (of which I am a huge fan). Many of the readers who have reviewed the book here received the Kindle version of this book free. I am not one of them. I paid the full price of 9.99 and do not for one second regret doing so. It was worth every penny. The minute I finished this book on my Kindle, I got on amazon.com and got another Julie Klassen book (The Lady of Milkweed Manor). I am a new and very enthusiastic fan of Julie Klassen (one of many I am sure). I hope she writes fast :)

A lovely read that is positive and well written. I highly recommend and will definitely read more by Julie Klassen

Die Geschichte der Tochter des Apothekers spielt in England im Jahr 1810 und der Leser begleitet die jugendliche Lilly auf ihrem Weg zu einer jungen Frau. Als Apothekerstochter hilft Lilly ihrem Vater schon von Kindesbeinen an bei der Pflege des Kräutergartens, der Zubereitung von Arzneien und auch bei Krankenbesuchen. Als intelligentes Mädchen mit einem herausragenden Gedächtnis eignet sie sich dadurch allerlei Fähigkeiten an; als Mädchen ist es ihr jedoch nicht erlaubt, die Apotheke ihres Vaters eines Tages weiterzuführen. So nutzt sie die Gelegenheit, mit Verwandten nach London zu gehen und wird dort in die feine Gesellschaft eingeführt mit dem Ziel, einen passenden Ehemann für sie zu finden. Dann, nach knapp zwei Jahren bekommt sie einen Brief aus ihrer Heimatstadt - enthalten ist ein mysteriöser Hilferuf.... Mehr will ich hier gar nicht schreiben, um dem Buch nicht die Spannung zu nehmen. Die Geschichte liest sich sehr gut, der Spannungsbogen wird bis zum Ende gehalten. Man rätselt auch das gesamte Buch mit, welcher von Lillys Verehrern denn nun ihr Herz erobern wird. Gut gefallen mir auch die christlichen Werte, die vermittelt werden und die Wichtigkeit der Beziehung zu Gott, besonders in der zweiten Hälfte des Buches. Das Schriftbild ist sehr schön und kann auch nicht geändert werden. Jedes neue Kapitel ist mit einem Vers gekrönt, einem medizinischen Rat, einer Weisheit o.ä. Es sind einige Formatierungsfehler enthalten, immer wieder mal sind zwei Worte zusammengeschrieben, ab und zu schleicht sich das letzte Wort eines Satzes an den Anfang. Zunächst war ich irritiert über letzteres, aber man erkennt das sofort und somit hängt man das Wort halt einfach wieder an. Für die Formatierungsprobleme möchte ich keine Punkte abziehen, da sie das Lesevergnügen meines Erachtens nach nicht beeinträchtigen.

A journey through different classes in a bygone era. I really enjoyed the description of the different settings. I would have liked a bit more depth to the characters, though. The different plot twists were unexpected and something I really appreciated, after having read so many predictable books lately.

I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. The historical detail of conflict between the medical men of the time; surgeons, apothecary and doctors was well researched, as was the conflict of being an educated woman in a man's world. The plot was full of excellent twists and turns and not to give too much away, you'll be kept guessing right til the end. Although the author is associated with "Christian" literature (I didn't notice this until after I had read the book) don't let this put you off the book, if it's not your cup of tea. There were quite a few refs to praying and faith etc, but It certainly wasn't out of context for period in history. Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

It was enjoying to read a story about people practicing a known profession but about which so little is known. The heroine seemed to have been spoiled for choice of a husband!!!! Since all of her her suitors were ready to marry her!!! The mystery behind Rosa Halswell's disappearance was well used as its current runs underneath the story till the end. I wish the author had told us who she left everything behind for. The story actually makes us realise the value of things in our life we take for granted.