The Apothecary

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy is the first book in a historical fantasy series for middle-grade readers following Janie, a fourteen-year-old who recently moved from Los Angeles to London, and Benjamin Burrows, the son of a local apothecary. Set in 1952 at the height of the Cold War, the book is centered on the disappearance of Benjamin's father, who was kidnapped and is now the center of a plot involving Russian spies and nuclear weapons. The Apothecary is the first book in the Apothecary Trilogy and is followed by The Apprentices and The After-Room.

The Apothecary opens in the early 1950s. Janie, a fourteen-year-old girl from Los Angeles, has recently moved to London with her parents, television writers who have accidentally gained the unwanted attention of the House Un-American Activities Committee, the organization responsible for ensuring that Communists haven't infiltrated the American media. Concerned about their ability to continue working, Janie's parents flee with their daughter to the United Kingdom where they begin working under pen names on an adaptation of Robin Hood and enroll Janie in a prep school.

Though Janie's parents are thrilled to be able to continue the work that they love, Janie is less amused by the move. The prep school where she has been enrolled is full of rich, prissy girls that she doesn't want to befriend, the uniforms are itchy, and she has to learn Latin, a language that she can't wrap her head around. Despite the unpleasantness of her current situation, Janie quickly makes one new friend, Benjamin Burrows whose father is a prominent local apothecary. Benjamin is blunt and more forthright than most, and he and Janie bond over Benjamin's jokes about the absolute uselessness of the duck and cover air raid drills that the kids take part in each month.



Benjamin is much more daring than his father, who is mild-mannered and sweet and hopes that Benjamin will take over his apothecary shop when he retires. Benjamin, however, has other, much more exciting plans – he wants to be a spy. To practice for his future career, Benjamin has been keeping an eye out in his neighborhood, and discovered a scheme involving secret messages and unobserved rendezvous. He drags Janie into his observations, and the two quickly become embedded in the mystery around them.

Much to the surprise of both Janie and Benjamin, however, the secret schemes they are witnessing seem to have an unexpected center. Benjamin's father continues to come under their surveillance, and all threads seem to lead back to him. Benjamin and Janie soon uncover that Benjamin's father's apothecary is more than just a simple medicine shop – Benjamin's family have been making secret, magical elixirs for generations, and Benjamin's father is in the middle of navigating a plan with scientists that will have an incredible impact on relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The elixirs include truth serums, invisibility potions, and even concoctions that allow people to transform their physical bodies. However, evil is lurking just around the corner, and Benjamin and Janie quickly become concerned about the plans that Benjamin's father has underway.

In the nature of true historical fantasy, Meloy relies on historical accuracy and real events to inspire this fantastical adventure story. Janie and Benjamin have been trained to look for evil even in the places they least expect it – that is the nature of the era – and that skill comes in handy as they try to navigate the nature of Benjamin's father’s business and the government officials and scientists they meet along the way.



Maile Meloy is an American author of fiction and short stories for both young adults and adult readers. She was educated at Harvard and has an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Meloy won a Guggenheim Fellowship and a PEN/Malamud Award for her short stories, and was listed in Granta's list of “Best Young American Novelists.” Two stories from her book Half in Love were adapted into a film that was featured at Sundance Film Festival in 2016. The Apothecary series is her only series for young adults, but gained attention by critics and is well respected in the historical fantasy genre. Meloy's brother is Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy, and her aunt is noted writer Ellen Meloy.