The Apothecary

Maile Meloy

Oct 2011 · The Apothecary Series Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

It's 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows - a fascinating boy who's not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy. When Benjamin's father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary's sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies - Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons. Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

Together with Ian Schoenherr's breathtaking illustrations, this is a truly stunning package from cover to cover.

Ratings and reviews

I didn't buy the book, I barrowed it from my school's library. This is a great book! Lot of awesome suspense. I love the chemistry of Benjamin and Janie. Benjamin and Janie was one of the many suspenseful characters. With this book you have to expect the unexpected. The plot twists were AMAZING! Pease do me a favor, and read this book! :D

I thought the end was gonna be rubish twice in this book but I got the pleasent surprise of something that could satisfy me until I can read the next book. It had me hooked with the suspenseful bits and I just couldn't put it down. I loved it!

I am only halfway done and I love it ! It is for me to get in a reading bowl but when I started reading it I didn't care about the reading bowl because this is very interesting!

About the author

Maile Meloy is the author of the story collection Half in Love, and the novels Liars and Saints, shortlisted for the 2005 Orange Prize, and A Family Daughter. Meloy’s stories have been published in The New Yorker, and she has received The Paris Review’s Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award, the Rosenthal Foundation Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2007, she was chosen as one of Granta’s Best American Novelists under 35. She lives in California.