The Apothecary (review)

Jane Scott, now well into her seventies, recalls her week of life-threatening adventure back in 1952, when she and her parents, television writers accused of Communist sympathies during the Red Scare, moved from California to London to continue their careers. A quotidian trip to the local apothecary for hot water bottles and candy bars puts Jane on the radar of the apothecary's son, Benjamin Burrows, who is also a classmate in her new school. Benjamin has to date resisted his father's attempts to draw him into the family business, feeling that life as a druggist is a prospect too boring to entertain. But when he discovers that his father is the keeper of the Pharmacopoeia, a book of near-magical instructions and concoctions passed down through generations, his days take on sudden, perilous interest. Russian scientists, aided by a spy ring that includes the teens' teacher, are after the book and its users; Mr. Burrows and his associates are equally determined to use their arcane knowledge to contain the fallout from a hydrogen bomb that's scheduled to be tested in the Russian outpost Nova Zembla. Benjamin and Jane are of course in the thick of spy/ counterspy machinations, and a trip to the test site as stowaways nearly costs them their lives. References to Russian scientist Andrei Sakharov, a number of actual sites, and period television programming add authenticity to the Riordan-esque fantasy/ thriller, and readers who revel in the current output of Cold War novels will enjoy this genre-crossing romp. Jane hints broadly at other adventures (and maybe some romance?) with Benjamin, so watch for Meloy to brew a sequel.