This is above all a romance but the authors canny research and ability to convey perfectly what it would feel like to witness unspeakable events unfolding, lift it from the mundane to the delightful. As well as the unfolding romance we are introduced to plague and pestilence, the development of medicine, slavery, the fire of London and the inequality of women all very well written and researched and conveyed in a way which isn't "preachy or teachy" Kitty is living in England in 1643 when the Civil War breaks out. Charles I raises the standard at Nottingham & goes into battle against Parliament. Kitty faces a battle of her own when a new minister & his family move into the village. Kitty was burned in a fire & is used to being looked at strangely, but the minister's wife takes an unhealthy dislike to her, which culminates in Kitty being accused of being a witch. She is taken to the Leicester Assizes where she will most likely be found guilty & sentenced to death.

I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, at how much I enjoyed the book. The narrative voice, sense of setting and historical period are all strong, and the religious aspects (while occasionally heavy-handed) only once threaten to overwhelm the main story. Most importantly, however, the protagonist is both intelligent and dynamic enough to hold our attention throughout the story; and (longtime readers will know this is my most frequent complaint) the author understands "show, don't tell". That last concept, especially, is a problem common to authors who have far more published work than Ms. Klassen, and I heartily congratulate her for overcoming it. How long is Lilly going to string all these guys along? Shouldn't it be at least a little apparent (to me if not to her) which guy is the right one? Yes because anything read by Davina Porter is better than reading it myself. I love to listen to her-Good points and bad, my overall opinion is that the story is fabulous. My favorite portion of all is where the name for the book came from. It makes me teary eyed. And you will just have to go read it to find out why. Susannah is an intelligent young woman in her twenties who assists her father in his pharmacy. But the date is 1665 so he's actually called an apothecary, creating herbal remedies from scratch; moreoever this is an era when women did not, generally, do work of this kind. However, London is in the grip of the bubonic plague. So apothecaries must work overtime to produce nosegays - supposedly to ward off evil humours - as well as plague preventative medicine, herbs for poultices, and so on.

Well, to the review. I doubt I can truly do justice to all the wonderful details in this book, but I’ll try. Empece con muchas ganas este libro esperando solamente que la historia fuera como la primera que leí de esta autora pero no fue así. Nuevamente caímos en lo mismo. I'm delighted to learn that a sequel will be published later in 2012, and look forward to reading it. This book is a odd mix of genres - it couldn't make its mind up if it was a police procedural or a historical fiction with paranormal overtones. Out of the two storylines, I preferred Kitty's, she was a much more interesting character than anyone in the modern story. This odd mix meant that it felt a bit disjointed & Ray's connection to Kitty was very strange. A few sightings of a ghost haunting the cottage & some dreams I can sort of understand but about two thirds of the way through it takes an even stranger turn. Whilst in bed with girlfriend Sarah, she is 'replaced' by Kitty & Ray sleeps with her. Sex with ghosts? Is this Greys Anatomy? Could it technically be considered a threesome? What is even worse is that it intimates that this actually happened to Kitty in her time & that Ray takes her virginity. This puts Kitty at risk as the local witchfinder is intent on proving that Kitty has been consorting with the devil, & as a single woman, not being a virgin will be a death sentence. Having been very impressed with Lily though, they wrote to invite her to stay with them in London to enjoy the season in hopes she might find a nice match. Knowing her father's apprentice, Francis, could take her duties in the shop, Lily set off from the only home she had never known to an adventure she never dreamed possible.There are some quirky POV shifts in this book. It's 98% written in a third-person POV for Lilly, but the beginning and end scenes are, for reasons known only to Klassen, written in 1st person POV. But what was really odd was when when, after the 50% mark, we suddenly have a handful of scenes written from the POV of a couple of Lilly's suitors, just randomly dropped into the text here and there. If you're going to switch POVs, do it more often, or not at all. Covers topics such as faith, love, deceit, forgiveness, and always under the shadow of the Inquisition. But given the structure of the story, I thought for sure she'd end up with a particular character, only to find out later that I was wrong. In any case, the heroine seemed to be equally divided -- her physical and emotional reaction to each suitor gave each suitor an equally good chance. My impression was that perhaps the author herself didn't know whom the heroine would end up choosing, and while I have no problem with that in real life, I like a little more certainty in books in the romance genre. Thank you for taking the time to tell me you liked the book. Phoebe, Joseph and Emmanuel were such favourites of mine that they have cameo roles in The Painter’s Apprentice, so you might like that, too!