It’s 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows – a fascinating boy who’s not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy.

When Benjamin’s father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary’s sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies – Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons. Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

Together with Ian Schoenherr’s breathtaking illustrations, this is a truly stunning package from cover to cover. First in a trilogy, it contains a teaser chapter of the sequel, The Apprentices. The final book in the series is The After-room.

Winner of the E.B. White read-aloud award.

Publish Date: Feb. 12 2013, Puffin Books

EAN: 9780142422069

Paperback: 384 pages, Recommended for Middle Grade (10 and up)

About the Author:  Maile Meloy is the author of the novels Liars and Saints and A Family Daughter; the short story collections Half in Love and Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It (named one of the “10 Best Books of 2009” by the New York Times Book Review); and the Apothecary bestselling middle-grade trilogy.

Her fiction has won the Paris Review‘s Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award, and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Meloy was shortlisted for the UK’s Orange Prize for Fiction and chosen as one of Granta‘s Best Young American Novelists.

Maile is one of our very favorite authors!  She comes to our town of Ashland Oregon when visiting family, and she graciously pops in to sign copies of her books when she's in town.  You may be lucky enough to get a signed copy! (No guarantees though.)