The Hemlock Cure
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A glitteringly dark historical novel of love, persecution, and survival set against the backdrop of one of history's most terrifying episodes: the Bubonic Plague.
It is 1665 and the women of Eyam village keep many secrets. Especially Isabel and Mae.
Isabel Frith, the village midwife, walks a dangerous line with her herbs and remedies. There are men in the village who speak of witchcraft, and Isabel has a past to hide. So she tells nobody her fears about the pious, reclusive apothecary, on whom she is keeping a watchful eye.
Mae, the apothecary's youngest daughter, dreads her father's rage if he discovers what she keeps from him: her feelings for Rafe, Isabel's ward, or the fact that she studies from her father's books at night.
But others have secrets too. Secrets darker than any of them could have imagined.
When Mae makes a horrifying discovery, Isabel is the only person she can turn to. But helping Mae will place them both in unimaginable peril. Meanwhile another danger is on its way from London. One that threatens to engulf them all. . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Burn (Petals and Stones) makes her U.S. debut with a smoothly written, well-researched if unexceptional historical mystery. When the bubonic plague arrives in the Derbyshire village of Eyam in 1665, it unleashes the mania of Wulfric Housley, the town's apothecary. A religious zealot devoted to ridding the world of witches, Wulfric believes they are in league with the devil and responsible for all the world's ills. Meanwhile, Wulfric's 14-year-old daughter, Mae, who assists him in the preparations of tinctures and potions, has secretly been learning the art of midwifery from Isabel, a woman her father regards as a witch. A melodramatic tale of thwarted love, murderous impulses, and secret crimes unfolds, enriched by entries from Wulfric's 1645 diary and narration by Mae's late sister, Leah, who relates scenes from the family's past and whose spirit tries to warn Mae of the current danger. The plague serves mainly as backdrop to Wulfric's abuse of his wife, daughters, and other women, and episodes that add nothing much to Mae's story, such as a trip to London by Isabel's husband, slow the pace. This works best as a moving portrait of sisterhood.
