What Fiction are you reading this week, April 19, 2026?

[MontanaMama]

2. The Correspondent is on my reading list!

I appreciate your endorsement of it. It came highly recommended by friends.

I recently finished The Last Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Read it in two days. I loved it. I always think that I don’t like historical fiction and then I prove myself wrong over and over again. Here’s the overview from ThriftReads:

Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary's fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.

Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary's in a stunning twist of fate--and not everyone will survive.

With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating debut novel of secrets, vengeance and the remarkable ways women can save each other despite the barrier of time.

Honestly, with the CNN revelations of this online rape academy thing, it made me wonder if women would secretly do some lethal gardening in order to prepare some “well disguised poisons” to take matters into their own hands. There seems to be no accountability otherwise. 🪴