The Lost Apothecary | Holly Furtick Book Club

Foreign.

It is our favorite night of the month. It is book club night. It is Tuesday and I've missed you and I'm so glad that you're here with me. I'm so excited about our book club book for tonight. We are reading or did read. We are discussing the Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. And Sarah is going to be joining us tonight. And I'm so excited to discuss this book. When I picked this book, I did not realize that it was Women's History Month. Did I just say that right? Women's History Month. I've had a really long day, you guys, like a really long day. I just came from a really cold, wet, rainy baseball game and I ran home and warmed up some food and looked over my notes. Sarah's here. Hi, Sarah. I'm gonna bring you on in just a second. Went to print out my notes and my printer is jammed, but that's okay because I have an iPad, so no big deal. International Women's Day. Thank you, Emily. I was killing time and waiting for somebody to tell me what it was. International Women's Day. I do know what it's called. I just lost my mind. And what a great book for International Women's Day because this book really not only highlights women, it celebrates women. Sarah's going to read a passage from, from the book that I feel like just all encompasses, all encompasses International Women's Day. And I'm so glad that you are here and I'm so glad that Sarah's going to be joining us. It's going to be a great night. This book had me almost from the beginning. In fact, I'm not sure how. I'm not sure, like how far into it I was when I think it's pretty early on in the book where the first guy gets poisoned with the, with the egg, where she makes, she makes the egg. And I was hooked from, from then on. And I also liked, I also like the, the modern day character. So here's, here's what our book is about in case you're just joining us, in case you're one of those people who just likes to join us for the discussion. And you have, you didn't read the book, but you love to hear us talk about the books and you love to hear from the author. Here's a short summary of this book. The Lost Apothecary is one of those books that has dual timelines. So you have Caroline in the present day who is going on an anniversary trip with her husband and she finds out right before they leave, she sees his phone and she finds out that he has had an affair right before they leave for their trip. So she is like, peace out. I'm going on a trip without you. And she arrives in London. And while she's in London, she stumbles upon this adventure, or I don't know what you want to call it, like an excursion called mudlarking, which I have never had. Never heard of before, but apparently it's where people go down to the Thames river and. And they dig through the mud to find bones and jars and artifacts of history that has washed up on this. On the banks of this river that is one of the oldest rivers. I was about to say one of the oldest rivers in the world, but I guess all the rivers are about the same age. But anyway, a river that surrounds a city that has deep, deep, deep history and stories to tell from the river. So our character, Caroline, she finds this jar in. In while she's mudlarking. And. And now we have our backstory and we have our apothecary. And her name is Nella. And Nella started out learning from her mother, wanting to help women, because often doctors during that time in history did take women seriously, didn't help them. And so she starts out by helping them with tinctures and remedies that she has made from all kinds of natural elements. We had a funny conversation in my office today about how you say the word tincture. And Ashley Tucker kept calling it tinker chore. And we were making fun of her. Sorry, Ashley, but thank you for the laugh. So, anyway, Nella makes. She. She helps women by making them tinctures to help them with all of their various ailments from. From female problems to trying to prevent pregnancy to a rash, whatever, a headache, anything that you have. I don't know what the discussion is going on, but I'm really distracted and I feel like I should be reading some of your comments, but that you guys have become friends with each other through the book club and. And now you're having conversations without me. But anyway, I'm happy and I'm here for it.

So.

Okay, so now we have Nella. And here comes this little girl. She's a little, like, maid servant, and her name is Eliza. And her maid, her. Her ladies. The lady that she serves has sent her to Nella to get a tincture to poison her husband. And the husband is evil. So before any of you go panicking about how this book is about, like, killing innocent men, they are not innocent men. They are evil.

Men.

And this man. I can't remember his name. Maybe I have it down here in my notes. Let's see. Was it Amwell? Mr. Amwell. Was that the bad guy? Anyway, he has been abusing poor little Nella and taking advantage of the people in his house. And his wife has decided that it's time for him to go. So Eliza goes to Nella and she makes a poison egg. And this is where we have, like, one of the first scenes in the book. And I love it so much because Eliza has to be brave enough to. To. To feed this man this poison egg, so she's essentially, like, murdering him. Jennifer says, hold up the book, please. Here's the book. The Lost Apothecary. If you have not read this book, I think it's time for you to hop off. I will post this on my YouTube so you can go back and watch it. I should never tell somebody to hop off of a live. Except we're gonna talk about where this book goes. So hop off or be spoiled. Okay, So I want to know before we bring Sarah on, I just want to have a. I just have a few questions for you. So first of all, did you have a problem with the men, the male killing in this book? I did not. I don't know. Suspension of disbelief. I could get on board with the evil man. Men need to be taken care of. And I feel like, you know, it's International Women's Day. I feel like women have come so far in history, but at this point in history, a woman had nothing. She had no rights. She had no rights to her money, no rights to her children. She couldn't testify in court. And so how else is a woman going to defend herself from an evil man? I mean, she can't take him to court. She can't call the police. Nobody's gonna believe her or care. So did you have a problem with that? Love Lots says, no problem at all. Let's see. Gray Mama says, no, it's a book. Kelly says, no. Jamie says, hop off. Danny says, I love to hear the endings. Emily says, spoiler, people die. Okay, this is coming from my sister who reads the end of the book. In fact, Emily, did you read the end of this book before we got there? I don't think you did, because I think she did. Audible on this one. Charlotte says, no problems with it. Relle says, especially Frederick.

Let's see.

All of you are saying, no issue with it. No issue. No problem. It was all a secret. So Stephanie Van Allman says, I feel like men watch Lots of killing movies so we can read killing books.

Yes.

And here's the other thing that I thought was just brilliant about this book was how essential oils have been so trendy. And this is why, like I told my sister, I was like, emily, you have to read this book. You're gonna love it so much, because Emily is a huge oil person. Let me know in the chat. Are you an essential oils person now? I'm not. I like essential oils. I, like, put them in my house, and I, you know, will occasionally, like, put lavender on my skin or whatever. But I'm not like a. I'm not going to. I don't know. I'd rather just take an ibuprofen than rub peppermint oil on my temples. I'd like to know out there how many of you love essential oils. You guys are all still talking about if it's okay for people killing. And we've all agreed that it's okay. Okay. Emily says yes. S. Theresa says yes. And somebody says, yeah. Heidi says yes, but not extreme. Holly Truex says yes. Sharon says yes. Okay, so for all of the essential oils people out there, this is. This. This was your book. And Sarah says tea tree is great for bug bites.

I'm.

I'm, like, a big fan of. Of them. I just, you know, sometimes take the quicker route. My sister Emily did one time make a. A tincture of sorts. For what? What is that? What are those warts that kids get? That's like a rash. I can't remember the name of it. They're not, like, regular warts, but it's like. Anyway, she made one for my kids, and we were supposed to, like, rub it on them. All of you are saying that you love essential oils. So who was your favorite character is one of the questions that I have written down. I. I really loved Eliza, I think. Oh, molluscum. Thank you, Emily. Guys, I'm all over the place, and we gotta get Sarah on soon. Molluscum are the little warts that kids get. And yes, Emily made me a tincture for molluscum. I'm pretty sure that it did actually work. No, not hand, foot, mouth. Molescum. It's a childhood disease. Let me know your kids have ever had it. It's kind of gross. You have to wash all your towels. Okay. Did you have a favorite character? Mine was Eliza. You guys are all chiming in. You're saying Eliza. Eliza. Charlotte says making concoctions makes me happy. All right, we all agree Eliza was really a favorite. I think one of the reasons that Caroline, she was. I was really conflicted with Caroline because I couldn't decide if I wanted her to forgive her husband or not. And I'm curious to know what you guys think about that. Should Caroline have forgiven her husband? Heidi, Heidi, like Gaynor. Gaynor was a fun, A fun character. Bleed jars says, I loved bachelor Alf. He was great, too. And you guys are still talking about Muscom. Shan Gray says she loved Nella. A lot of you are chiming in, saying you love Gaynor. Jenny Dillon says bachelor Alf too. So, okay, did you think that Caroline should have forgiven her husband? You guys are like, no. Nope. Sage Surge says, omg, I love this book. Gaynor was my favorite character. Okay, so, all right. We, We. We are kind of on agreement.

I, I, I agree.

I, I don't think. I don't think she needed to. I think it was her choice, and she chose. She chose not to. And she chose to do something for herself and to stop blaming him for how her life turned out, but to just do something for herself. Felicia Jimenez says, no chance. Ashley Tucker says, I did think for a minute that Caroline had poisoned her. Poisoned her husband. Hey, you're jumping ahead to what we have to talk about, which was, I have to tell you guys. Okay, here's the spoiler alert. So get off if you don't have spoiler alerts. Also, side note, I have these slippers on that my sister gave me, and I'm taking them off now because I was really cold when we came home from that baseball game, but now those things are making me sweat. So. Thanks, Emily. Okay. The reason that I chose this book, hands down, I'm reading it, I'm loving it, and listening to. I'm totally into the story, and I have to say that the moment where her husband, when he drank, well, he. When he started getting sick, I just thought he was sick. Like, I never once thought, because, you know, he had said he had a cold, and he asked her the oil, and she told him to use the eucalyptus. Right? And when she. When. When he started getting sick, I never once thought. I never once thought, oh, she poisoned him or it was the eucalyptus oil. I just wasn't. I don't know where I was. I just, I wasn't on that track. I never saw the two stories coming together like that. And so when we found out that, that she. That he had drank the eucalyptus oil, oh, my gosh. I was like, no way. No, no. I was just. It just got me. And I was so shocked. And I absolutely love. And you guys Tell me if. If. If you agree with this, but there's nothing better than a book that, like, takes you by surprise. Like, something happens that you didn't see coming and you're like, oh, my gosh, yes.

Okay.

So Kaylee says, I thought he had at first. Let's see, the. The lysic family says, I didn't think that either. Jess says, same. I can't believe that he did that. Everybody's saying, me too, Felicia. I thought it was kind of funny. I just. I just didn't see that coming. And at that moment, I knew this is a book club book because everybody needs to have a book like that. Okay. Felicia says she kind of saw it coming. His character was a gaslighter from the start. I mean, yes, but, like, don't you ever get into a book where you're just not really. Like, you're just letting the book happen to you? And of course, looking back, I was like, oh, yeah, of course her husband did that. But, like, what kind of idiot. Thank you. Emily says, I put one drop of eucalyptus in my neti pot. I couldn't believe that he drank it. I'm like, you're so dumb. Why would you do that? So anyway, I was totally shocked and totally hooked on this book from that moment on. Are you guys ready to bring on Sarah? Hi, Sarah.

Hi, Holly. How are you?

I'm wonderful. Thank you for being on with us tonight.

Oh, thank you for having me. I've been just sitting here, like, enjoying all of this chat, kind of chiming in where I can. It's really fun.

And. And honestly, such. Such a fun book. I. I just. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I thought it was brilliant for you to take essential oils and poison someone with them. It was awesome.

Yeah. Thank you. It's funny because my original idea was that Caroline would find some leftover poison in the apothecary shop, like, once she maneuvered her way in. But then I started doing some research, and I realized that there are no poisons that would have retained their toxic properties after 200 years. So I was back to the drawing board. And then I started researching essential oils and learned that eucalyptus oil is actually very toxic. There have been lots of reports of kids getting very sick from it. So that was my plan B that I used for the book. That's.

It was brilliant. And actually, one of the girls on our book club, Stephanie Van Allman, her. One of her daughters, got really bad burns from. I think it was maybe, like, oregano. And it automatically made me think of that because I Like, I was so bought in at that moment because I had known of a friend whose child had sort of been injured. And I mean, just Cass, Cassie is saying, so clever. It really was so clever for you to. To. To get her husband like that. And I was honestly scared that he was going to die and then that she was going to get blamed for it. So I was like, I kind of want him to die, but then I was like, he can't die because.

Yeah, that's. That's the whole point. You know, James is kind of a nuanced character. And it's funny. There are some readers who say that they kind of. Their heart kind of goes out to him. Like, there are some readers that almost pity him in a way, and then there are other readers that absolutely loathe him. And I think you're supposed to feel a little bit of both, and you're supposed to question whether his apologies are genuine or manipulative or somewhere in between. So I think he's, you know, he's representative of one of those really nuanced characters that, as we read a book, we can't really decide whether we like him or hate him.

Yeah, I was. I was definitely. I was definitely on that track. I think. I think I lean more towards hating him and not trusting him. And I didn't really feel like his. I felt like his apologies were more. More manipulative.

Yes.

Just personally, a lot of people are saying he's a gaslighter.

I mean, that's how I feel as the author. Like, he was very manipulative, but, you know, I would never put that impression on a reader. I think that that's. That's part of the fun of it, is hearing what other readers have taken from the story, and sometimes they even find meaning or metaphors that I didn't intentionally write in. But it almost makes you wonder, did it come from something subconscious? So that's one of the most fun things about this and writing as a creative effort is that your reader or your recipient kind of interprets things a little bit different than you might have even intended.

That's awesome. All right, so take us back to the beginning. You work in finance, and.

Yeah, so it's really kind of amazing. And I hope that it's. I'm sure we have some aspiring writers that are tuning in, and I hope that this is a message of inspiration, because the reality is I have no formal writing background. I was a finance major at the University of Kansas, and then I worked for 13 years in corporate America, and I just Followed a passion in my free time, which was basically five in the morning, I would sit down and write for a couple of hours. And I wrote a book that was rejected by hundreds of literary agents. And then I wrote a second book, which was the Lost Apothecary, and definitely struck a chord. And I signed with my agent. We sold the book overnight to Harper Collins, and then the book came out in hardcover last March. And that same month, I was able to quit my job, so.

Yeah, because it spent, like, seven weeks on the New York Times list.

Yes. That's.

That's insane. So how did you. Like, how did you. How did you go from, okay, I. I got up every morning at 5am to do my hobby, kind of to write a book. I wrote one, and it got rejected. What made you say, well, I'm gonna write another one? Like, what made you start over? Why didn't you try to fix the other one? Or what gave you that? How. Why didn't you be like, I must not be a writer. This must not be for me?

Um, gosh, there's a lot of things that I think contribute to that, but one of the main ones is that I've always loved challenge. So anytime that I'm presented with, like, a hurdle or an obstacle, I feel like I want to develop and learn enough to scale that hurdle. And so when I was rejected by all of these literary agents with my very first book, I knew from having read and talked to. To other authors that all the authors we all read and love, they never get their first book published. That's, like, unheard of. So I knew I. Or they never get their first manuscript published. So I knew I had to keep working and keep trying. And I thought this might take two or three or four attempts before something actually hits. And I was very glad that it was my second book that I. Because I would probably still be working at it and still working in finance and probably on book three or four. But I feel really fortunate that this worked, and I've been really amazed by it. My agent, I was talking to her the other day, and she said, it seems like everybody who reads the Lost Apothecary turns around and tells five of their female friends about it. And so that has been really cool. For whatever reason, it's just. It's been a good conversation for people, and I think that's helped its success.

Yeah, I would agree.

So what.

Was there something that sparked your. Your interest or your idea where you were like, you know, you're like, okay, I know I'm going To try this again, I'm going to write another book. At what point did you go, this is what the book is about.

So I'll tell you exactly what that was. That. That first manuscript that got rejected by so many agents, I asked those agents, what is the problem here? Is it the writing or is it the premise? And the feedback that I got back was that it was the premise. And the premise of that first book was that there were a couple of women in the story and things were happening to them. And then at the end, a man kind of comes into the story and resolves a lot of the problems that I had set up for the story. And everyone said, no, the industry does not like that. You cannot have a man saving the women. Your women need to have agency. They need to have control over their own destiny. So when I sat down to brainstorm the Lost Apothecary, I decided to go completely to the other side of the spectrum. And instead of women being saved by men, now women are killing men. And as it turns out, that has been a very popular premise.

It is a popular premise. In fact, I meant to say this at the beginning, but have you? Right after I read the Lost Apothecary, I don't know how this happened, but I read Finley Donovan is Killing It. Do you know that book?

I've heard of it, but I've not read it.

Okay. I'm not sure. I'm not sure who wrote it. It's this adorable little pink cover and it's called Finley Donovan is Killing It.

And it's.

I truly don't know what drew me. Maybe it came up, I don't know. It's not a historical fiction. It's a modern day book about a woman who kills a really bad man in, like, modern day. And then he's like, backpedaling, trying not to get caught. And anyway, it's a great little story, but I was like, this is so funny. But what is it that is, like, draws people to these sorts of stories?

I think I've asked myself that question, and I think part of it is that one of the best things about fiction is that we can lose ourselves in these sometimes unrealistic scenarios and let our brains play with those scenarios, but not actually have to deal with the repercussions. And who of us hasn't thought to myself, ugh, I really kind of wish that that person wasn't around or wasn't in my life or what have you. Not to say that we fantasize about killing people, but I think being able to go into a story where you're seeing that happen and you're kind of hearing what the characters are thinking and what's driving that motive and how they're processing their decisions. And I think is almost just like a form of creative or mental play for us as readers because we don't necessarily get to think those own thoughts in our day to day lives. So that might. That's kind of my thoughts on why readers like stories like this so much.

So how did you do go about doing your research? Did you do all your research before you started writing or did you research as you went along?

So I did several. I went through several months of research before I started writing. So I already had quite a bit of familiarity with 18th century London from that very first manuscript that I told you about because that was set in the same era. So I kind of knew what are people doing for work? What are they eating? How are they getting around the city of London? But I definitely needed to research what a day in the life for an apothecary would have been like. And so I found some firsthand accounts, basically like journals or registers of who their clients were, what remedies they were dispensing. So I did a lot of that researching what an apothecary did and what their workday was like. And then the biggest gap that I had to fill, of course, was research on all of these poisons. So the book, as you know, I really wanted to set out and not just tell a story about arsenic and the poison or poisons that we've all heard of the most. I really wanted to give the reader brand new interesting poisons that they've never heard of. And even the little green beetle on the bottom of the front cover is a poisonous beetle. And it's also, that beetle is also an aphrodisiac. And so I, as I discovered these poisons. Yes, there it is. It's my favorite part of the COVID That little beetle, that little. So cute.

Also beautiful cover, by the way.

Thank. Yeah. Well, I wish I could take credit. It's all the art team. But yeah, most of my, most of my research was on poisons. And that was fun and kind of a morbid way, sometimes a little bit uncomfortable to read, but still very interesting.

So the, the poisons that we read about in the book, the, the beetles that they dug up and the egg that she makes in the beginning, are those actual poisons that you read about?

Yes, yes. So one of my goals with the book was to keep the poison ingestion symptoms, all of that as factual as possible. And I've actually had a lot of pharmacists reach out to me who've said, hey, very well done with, like you, you were correct on how this would impact the human body if ingested. Where I used my imagination and where my creativity came into play was how to disguise those poisons in food and drink. So I know you've referenced that little brown hen's egg several times that Eliza takes home with her in her pocket, and it has the poison in it that, that, that method of disguising the nux vomica that's inside of there was just my imagination. And the horseradish sauce that's mentioned is my imagination. The fig liqueur, which the recipe for that is in the paperback that was just released, that was my imagination. So it was kind of a blend of facts and creativity.

Somebody just commented, yes, I'm a pharmacist, and I was so impressed.

It was very validating for me when the book came out and I started getting little emails and messages from pharmacists saying, good job. You did a great job. And in fact, I learned you were talking about a different type of blister earlier that kids get. But one pharmacist told me that they have, you know, even in existence today, there's a cream for warts that has cantharidin, which is the toxin in the cantharides beetle because it's kind of acidic or abrasive or whatever you want to call it. But I thought that was really interesting that they're still using that toxin even in present day. Huh? That is.

That's really fascinating. So now you're also writing your first time writer, essentially, and you did dual timelines. Was that difficult?

Yeah, it was. I. I need a long break before I venture into that territory again. I. Writing a dual timeline story is essentially telling two completely different stories. I mean, it's London separated by 200 years. So you're creating two worlds, two settings. There's three characters in the story, the three point of view characters. And then of course, each timeline needs its own stakes and conflict and subplots. And then somehow you have to weave all of that together in a way that you're not spoiling the secrets and the cliffhangers and the twists that come throughout the book. So I remember times when I just thought, what am I doing? Like, I don't know how to weave this together anymore. I just feel like the manuscript is inherently broken, but we got through it. And I think the good news is that now, as a reader, I think that we got the sequence correct and the secrets are revealed at the right time. But my next book is not dual timeline. I needed a break from that. It's all set in the same year.

When you write dual timelines, do you. Did you. I mean, I'm guessing you don't just write one all at one time and then one all at the other, but do you write them in chunks and then try to piece them together?

So it's important to remember that most books, the author writes multiple drafts, dozens of drafts. So with the very first few drafts of the Lost Apothecary, I tried to get Nella's story on the page, because that happens first, and Caroline is ultimately discovering what happened with Nella. So I needed to know what happened with Nella. So I drafted her story first, then I drafted Caroline's. Then Eliza was kind of last on the scene. I knew that she was going to be Nella's first customer in the story. And I asked myself, what does the reader most want to see next when Eliza purchases that poison? And I knew they were going to want to follow her home into that dining room and watch and stand with her when she dispenses this poison to her employer. So I decided to just play with Eliza's point of view and see if I could see how I liked her voice and her story. And she was my favorite, and so she was my third and final point of view. And then once I had their stories drafted, that's when the chaos begins, and you just start cutting and pasting and weaving and rewriting. And, I mean, you may as well just throw all of your manuscript pages into the air and let them settle and see how they fall, because that's what it. That's what it feels like when you're in the midst of it.

Well, I never have any aspirations to write a fiction story, but I am so glad that people like you are able to really push through and persevere and come out on the other end with a story that, like, thoroughly, thoroughly entertained me and was a beautiful escape. So I just. I love it. I always like to ask the authors, are you anywhere in this book?

Gosh, that's a deep question. And I love the way that you pose that. Of course, Absolutely. I. I find myself. Even the book that I'm working on now, even some of the villains, I see a little bit of myself in them. I think there's a little bit of me in Caroline, Nella and Eliza for sure. But Mostly in Caroline. And what I mean by that is, you know, I mentioned earlier that I worked 13 years in finance, and I had the fortune of being able to travel to London for work. And so Caroline's experience of seeing the city through fresh eyes. She's an Anglophile. She's very excited to be in this beautiful city that's got so much history. That was very much my same experience. So I could draw on some of that. But then a lot of questions that Caroline is asking throughout her story are questions that I've asked myself as well. And I think most women ask themselves about relationships that they're in and whether that's the right relationship for them forever. What, particularly today being International Women's Day, you know, as we talk about, like, parenthood or whether Caroline's questioning whether she wants to have children. So I think there are in her career choices as well, and what she went to school for and what passions she has set aside. These are all questions that I've asked myself throughout different points in my life. And I think most women ask themselves as well. So I think of the three characters, Caroline is definitely the one that there's the most of me in.

Yeah, I. I think you really set that up well, too, with her even wrestling with. Blaming her the. You know, the past 10 years of her life on her husband, but then sort of in the end, kind of going, like, all right, if I'm not gonna blame you, then I'm gonna. I'm gonna take ownership for this, and I'm gonna make a change, which I think a lot of women often get stuck. And even because they are. They have become a mother or, you know, whatever, they get stuck in not being able to pursue something that they at one. That they at one time thought was a dream. And then they have to make the life that they have become their dream. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that either. But I feel like within this context of this story, that I could feel that kind of coming out of you. I'd love for you to read a passage from the book.

I already. I. Just.

For those of you who are on with us, I messaged Sarah earlier. I think this part just goes really well with today being International Women's Day. It's on page 126, which is chapter 15 in my book. And just like, the bottom of 126 and then the top of 127. I'd love to hear you read it.

Yeah, so. And to set up some context for everybody, this part of the book is. It's a part where Nella, the apothecary, is telling Eliza, her kind of new apprentice, the importance of making sure the register with all of the names of these women is legible. So there has. The pages have kind of faded over time. One of the pages, there was a spill, and it sort of erased some of the ink. So Nella is coaching Eliza in how to, you know, darken the words to make them more legible. And Eliza has just asked why she should be doing that and why this is important. So Nella says, for many of these women, this may be the only place their names are recorded, the only place they will be remembered. It is a promise I made to my mother to preserve the existence of these women whose names would otherwise be erased from. From history. The world is not kind to us. There are few places for a woman to leave an indelible mark. But this register preserves them. Their names, their memories, their worth. So I think that. That that paragraph really reflects one of the primary themes in the book and one of the main messages that I want readers to take away. And today is such a perfect, perfect day to be having this discussion and to read that passage. Because as International Women's Day, I think we have such an opportunity to boost the stories and tell the untold histories of women who have come before us and done all of these amazing things. And so that's what Nella is really trying. The point that she's trying to make is so many of these women, unless they were royalty or part of the monarchy, their names would never be remembered. But at least in her register, their names would be written down. And if nothing else, that's a place that they're remembered.

I really, really loved that part of the book. And shout out to Heidi, who helped me select that part for today. And I just. I thought. When I was listening to it, I just thought, like, yeah, that's true. There are a lot of women whose names will never be remembered. I mean, even in the Bible, there's all these women who are not known by their name. They're the woman at the well or the woman with the issue of blood. And so I really liked that Nella knew that. That even if you were. Even if it wasn't a good thing that their name was being written down for, but that she was recording their name down. And I just. I really like that. So thank you for that part of the book. Okay, two more questions. Was there any character or which character did you miss the most when the book was over?

Yes, the character that I miss the most is Gaynor the librarian. And I noticed earlier when you asked your book club, who's your favorite character? Most people said Eliza, but a few people said Gaynor. And I think that her loyalty and friendship to Caroline, who is just someone that she just met, but she could tell was in need of support and a hug and a helping hand and a sandwich at one point. I mean, Gaynor just continues to show up out of just the goodness of her heart. And I wish that I'd had more to explore between them and their friendship, but perhaps someday in another story. But I absolutely love Gaynor and she represents so much warmth that I've experienced from librarians and archivists throughout all of my research. So she's definitely one of my favorite characters.

That's awesome. I really love that you say she represents warmth from people who have also helped you in that same aspect, because I think that's a personality type that often gets overlooked or ignored. But they're. They're people who are there, they're loyal and they. And they see you. And she was. She was a really great character.

Yeah. Okay.

So before you leave, I always love to ask because I find that all writers are also readers.

Yes.

So I would love to know, what are some of your favorite books? Like a book that made you fall in love with reading, or a book that you wish you could read again for the first time, or even an author that you've read every single one of their books.

Yes. So I had a feeling that you might ask this. So I went to my bookshelf and I actually, I grabbed one book in particular and I'll share a few books, but I wanted to share this one first. Again, very pertinent for today, this. And I know Instagram will flip the image so it's going to be backwards, but it's called Feminism the Essential Historical Writings. The. The actual cover is like nothing, you know, to speak really to write home about. But it's edited by Miriam Schneier and it's essays, fiction, memoirs, and letters by major feminist writers. And so I definitely felt like I wanted to suggest this one today if I had the opportunity, because I personally like these little bite sized essays that just have really important messages about women and women's rights. So that again, it's called Feminism the Essential Historical Writings, and it's edited by Miriam Schneier. S E H N E I R Another good book.

I'm writing these down.

Awesome. Another good book that just came out, I believe, in February Last month is the Maid by Nita Prose or Prost. It's fiction and it is about a hotel maid who stumbles on a crime scene in the hotel where she works. It is a cozy mystery, so it's just a lot of fun sleuthing. It's one of those books that you just kind of want to curl up with a cup of tea. It's easy to read. It's not too dark. No, it's not too dark. No. It's what I would call a cozy mystery. So nothing too gory on the page. It's really more just a fun read. And the narrator has a great voice as well. Let's see. Fiona Davis. She is one of my all time favorite contemporary writers. We actually share the same literary agent and all of her books are dual timelines. So if you all tuning in like the dual timeline element, definitely check that out.

I feel like I've read something by her.

So her latest is the Magnolia Palace. Last year she came out with the Lions on Fifth Avenue. Her debut was the Dollhouse and they're all set in famous New York landmarks.

Okay, I've seen the Dollhouse, but I haven't read it. It's been on like my wish list.

Yeah.

Good read.

Yes. Yeah, it's a great read. Again, great dual timeline to kind of shift gears a little bit. What got me into historical fiction? I love Ken Follett. He writes these epic historical fiction stories. I love Philippa Gregory for a little bit of a more scandalous, like British history. All of her stories are like in Castles in the Tower of London and have like family drama. I love the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. That's one of my top 10 favorite books of all time. And then lastly, Wilkie Collins, he wrote a book called the Moonstone, which is considered to be the first detective novel. And I love that as well. So that is kind of an eclectic assortment for you.

That is amazing. And I just think that there's nothing. And this is really why this book club exists. Because there's nothing better than reading a book that somebody told you this book is great to find that friend that you not. And not everybody thinks the same books are great. So sometimes you have to find that one friend that you know that you like the same books that they like. And so. But I always love to hear what our authors are reading and what you love. And thank you again. Thank you for this book. It's such a fun story and unintentional for International Women's Day, but. But so perfect. I loved it.

Yes. Well. And I have to thank you so much, Holly. It's a true honor to be talking to you. And thank you to everyone who's joined. There's. I see a lot of great comments, so I really appreciate everybody taking the time to tune in.

Oh, that's awesome. Thank you so much. You're so nice to meet you.

All right. Have a great night.

You, too. Have a great night. Well, guys, I hope you enjoyed that discussion as much as I did. I always love getting to meet these authors. We read the Lost Apothecary. We got to talk with Sarah Penner and hear how the book came about, how the story came to life, and who her favorite characters were. And I just love it. I hope you did, too. If you did, hit the like button so I can know that you liked it. Leave me a comment. Let me know what you like. Let me know what you're reading. And if you officially want to join the Holly Furtick Book Club, all you have to do is go to holly furtick dot com, leave me your email address. And I promise we're not going to spam you. We're just going to send you one email a month, let you know what we're reading and when we're meeting in case you want to join us live. Well, that's all I got for tonight. I'll see you back here next time.

Sa.