The Lost Apothecary Quotes
"But despite all that I did not know, I understood this: the woman knew exactly who she wanted dead."
"Killing and secret-keeping had done this to me. It had begun to rot me from the inside out."
"What worried me so? The edge of the parchment continued to catch my eye, as though something crawled beneath it."
"The woman whose name I would add to my register and whose mystery I would begin to unravel."
"I couldn’t bear to read through our made-for-two agenda and the playful notes we’d written to one another."
"I felt grateful she’d been born before I learned of James’s secret."
"I didn’t know myself without him. Would I lose, too, my hopes for a baby?"
"What good had they done me? James had been right: burying myself in antiquated documents and tales of haunted manors hadn’t resulted in a single job offer."
"My eyes began to sting as I considered the odds of finding this object in the riverbed."
"I’d stuck my hands into the muddy crevice of two rocks. I’d staved off tears."
"But while I was brave about some things, I was not brave about all things."
"No potion has the power to remove spirits from the empty air we breathe."
"I do not want to remain at the Amwell house."
"I'd like to stay with you and help with your shop."
"I pray travel and stress were to blame—perhaps my period would start later tonight, or tomorrow."
"This is no grand house of nighttime quiet and pink papers on the wall."
"I couldn’t resist the pull of the mystery—the what if, the unknown."
"As a student, I’d been fascinated by the lives of ordinary people, those whose names weren’t acknowledged and recorded in textbooks."
"I felt more alive in London—enveloped in an old mystery, an old story—than I could remember feeling in years."
"I could hardly breathe, Caroline. The other half of my heart is in London."
"For many of these women, this may be the only place their names are recorded. The only place they will be remembered."
"Copying words was not the same as writing words; it required me to move very slowly with the curves of someone else’s hand."
"Precisely. You understand, Eliza, that no good comes of greed. Certainly, no good came of this."
"The quill moved easily over the rough parchment, as though the pen itself knew the importance of this effort."
"Nerve-root is quite effective, though the truth about her son and his plot would have been the best remedy."
"I understood, now, why Nella sold medicines in addition to her poisons."
"For if the Indian hemp had worked too well, then your mistress would not need your help writing letters."
"A woman does not need to hide behind a wall if she has no secrets and does no wrong."
"It is a strange puzzle, for as much as I have worked to fix women’s maladies, I cannot fix my own."
"I hadn’t paid any attention to the jar she selected, for any within easy reach were etched with the bear logo and nothing more."
"Ahead, a flock of blackbirds took flight; even they were scared of me."
"You must return to the shop with me, child, for there is something I need to show you."
"Did you not read the jar, girl? Did you not see the words on it?"
"The maid presumed it a sweetener; only later did she realize it was poison."
"My eyes fell on the line that Eliza had drawn in the soot on her first visit and the clean, unblemished stone hiding underneath the filth."
"History might dismiss these women, but I would not."
"In life and in death, I relied on the palliative nature of what sat inside those glass bottles."
"We did not make it but twenty steps before I saw them: three constables wearing dark blue coats, walking straight toward us, their faces grim."
"I’m dealing with a situation right now, but I promise I’ll call you back as soon as I can."
"No matter what I do, everything I do pisses you off. What’s one more screwup? Add it to the list."
"I need to choose me. I need to prioritize me."
"This is fixable, all of it, but not if you’ve pushed me away. Let me back in, Caroline."
"I need to let out the truth about my trespassing."
"I’ve been running from the reality of it, but James showed up yesterday unannounced."
"I’ve learned more about our marriage while apart from you than I ever did when we lived under the same roof."