Everything Is Poison
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • This young adult historical novel tells the story of the women who risk everything to provide care for those with nowhere else to turn and the deadly secrets hiding in plain sight.
“Bracing . . . Enrapturing . . . This eloquent, rapid-fire novel is rich in cadence and history.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“An unforgettable novel of courage, chemistry, and female solidarity in a casually violent, misogynistic world.”—The Horn Book, starred review
Early seventeenth-century Rome . . .
For as long as she can remember, Carmela Tofana has desperately wanted one thing: to be a part of La Tofana’s, her mother’s apothecary in Campo Marzio, Rome. When she finally turns sixteen, she’s allowed into the inner sanctum: the workroom where her mother and two assistants craft renowned remedies for their customers. But for every sweet-smelling flower extract in the work-room, there’s another potion requiring darker ingredients. And then there’s Aqua Tofana, the apothecary’s remedy of last resort. In all Carmela’s years of wishing to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she never realized one tiny vial could be the death of them all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sixteen-year-old Carmela Tofana has waited her entire life to become an apprentice in her mother's apothecary shop in Rome. Alongside gruff but loving Maria and quiet Laura, Carmela is eager to learn the shop's secrets as well as prove to the town that her mother and coworkers are not witches. But soon Carmela must reconcile her own desires with her mother's personal decisions and how they affect the women who rely on the shop as a last refuge, while also contending with frenemy Violetta, now in need of her help. When her actions have far-reaching consequences, Carmela must quickly grow into the woman she is meant to become. McCullough (Enter the Body) intersperses bracing poems from the townspeople's POVs between enrapturing third-person narrated episodes at the shop. Some poems capture moving portrayals of friendship and longing, though central theming depicts the heart-wrenching experiences of the many village women facing physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their partners. Based on a real figure and set in the same universe as Blood Water Paint, as addressed in an author's note, this eloquent, rapid-fire novel is rich in cadence and history. Ages 14–up.
