Everything Is Poison

In early seventeenth-century Rome, sixteen-year-old Carmela Tofana longs to join her mother’s apothecary, La Tofana’s, in Campo Marzio. When she is finally allowed into its workroom, she learns how her mother and two assistants prepare remedies for customers. Among flower extracts and other medicines are potions made with darker ingredients, including Aqua Tofana, described as the apothecary’s remedy of last resort. The novel centers women providing care amid dangerous hidden secrets.