A perfect read for historical fiction fans but a bit slow for my liking. Based on a true story, this book is not so much about the plague and witches as it is of secrets and conflicted feelings. It is an enjoyable read if you have the will to push through the first chapters. Even though it is not the type of book I would usually go for, I would still recommend it.

SUCH A GOOD READ, history fiction at its finest, I am fascinated with the macabre and so books set around the plague are always a win for me and this was no different. It was dark and full of suspense and secrets. I loved it

A novel set during the plague of 1666, this book offers insight into the impact on families and their decisions on how to keep safe. There is a focus on herbs and natural cures that were believed to provide resistance to illness so comparisons and differences can be drawn with the current medical responses to Covid.
The jumping timeline and wide range of characters takes a little concentration to keep up with at first but this is an interesting story of family life and relationships in a society with very strict rules of acceptability. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and structured, I loved the writing style and the story being told from different points of view. In a couple of places I found the tension almost unbearable. Based on true events during the Great Plague in the 17th century, where a small town shut itself off to avoid spreading the disease, the story is bleak but the descriptions are so vivid and atmospheric, it was easy to think you were actually there.
A really fascinating and unusual book.

A gripping and well-written book, dealing with a fascinating period in history. I particularly liked the blend of fact and fiction.

The Hemlock Cure by Joanne Burn is an excellent and fascinating historical fiction that gives the reader a glimpse of what it would have been like to have been present in England during the plague of 1666. Truly engaging.

This is such a unique, intricate, complex, yet addictive novel. I don’t think I have read anything quite like it.

The author has taken her painstaking research and created a multi-layered narrative to take the reader into the village of Eyam during the all-encompassing plague of 1666. Here we get the glimpses of life for those involved within this sequestered village from an array of angles in the voice of a deceased girl. The reader delves into the lives at one point of a midwife, apothecary, those young and old, male and female. We see the dynamics of societal, gender, occupational, and religious relationships and ideals within these characters. We see the contraints, the double standards, the superstitions, the misconceptions, and the wrongs/rights of those that live within the village at this time. We can see how these inhabitants are treated by their family members and by one another. We also see how medicine, religion, and the supernatural all play a part in how the Black Death is perceived, understood, and treated.

There are twists and turns, developments, suspense, and a full character cast that all add together to make this novel one of a kind and truly immersive. I whole heartedly recommend this historical fiction that I truly enjoyed.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Little, Brown Book Group UK for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately (as of 9/13/21 no BB listing has been created) and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 2/10/22.

Based in the plague village of Eyam, which quarantined itself from the rest of the world during the plague to prevent contamination spreading to neighbouring towns & villages, this is the story of Mae, the apothecary’s daughter.
The story is told by the ghost? of Leah & their father, the village apothecary Wulfric’s, diary.
The main characters all have their secrets as we flit from Mae, to Wulfric’s diary, to Isobel (village midwife & friend to Mae’s passed mother, & her husband Johan who leaves to visit his friend in London.
I did feel at times there were a few too many characters whose stories detracted unnecessarily (Katarina for example) & would have loved to have had more details about the village during this time.
I loved the real characters interspersed amongst the story & the description of the herbs, tonics & medicines of the time.
I enjoyed the story & would rate it 4/5
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Black Death plague of 1666 ever since I learnt about it aged about 8. This book takes the back drop of the village of Eyam, where the villagers isolated itself in order to save neighbouring towns from the plague but adds in another story of a young girl and imagines her life.

It is narrated by a dead girl, Leah, who flits from scene to scene and tells the story from various perspectives but mostly from that of her sister, Mae. They were/are daughters of Wulfric, the town’s apothecary and now a widower after both Leah and his wife, Isabel died.

He is a God fearing and superstitious man with a specific fear of witches and displeasing God due to the actions of his family. As such, he is particularly concerned by his wife’s best friend, Elizabeth, and her motherly interest in Mae.

Elizabeth is the town’s midwife, which in spite of sharing many of the tools of the apothecary, is perceived by Wulfric as an ungodly role as women should suffer as they give birth due to Eve’s original sin. There is therefore an interesting juxtaposition of two quite similar jobs.

The real concern for the reader and the ghostly narrator is Wulfric’s paternal authoritarian behaviour/domestic abuse of his remaining daughter. The plot focuses upon Elizabeth and her adopted son Rafe’s attempts to rescue Mae which become gradually more determined.

I enjoyed the book, it sounds a bit strange having the narrator as a dead character but it quickly felt natural. The setting was interesting, other social issues are focused upon in a thoughtful manner (I don’t want to say what as it’s a spoiler). If you enjoy historical novels then I would recommend the book.

The book is available in February 2022 and I received an ARC copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This story is set in the village of Eyam and is based on true events whereby the village went to great lengths to help save its population from the devastating effects of the plague. The storytelling is great and provides fantastic historical insight into a famous event in history, through fiction. I really enjoyed this book and recommend to anyone with any slight interest in this period of history.

This is a story set in Eyam, Derbyshire, during the year of the plague 1666. It concerns Mae, who has a cruel father who believes that the women in his family are witches. He himself is a herbalist and much of the story revolves around plants and herbal cures. For me it was not particularly compelling until near the end when Mae decides to take matters into her own hands. The author provides a list of characters at the beginning which I found useful.

When I first picked up this book I made assumptions as to how the story would play out - a village is faced with the outbreak of a terrible illness and the women who help to provide treatments to the sick are faced with accusations of witchcraft. I was pleasantly surprised with how the story went, and I think this helps the book to stand out amongst others of the genre.

Mae is keen to learn the ways of being an apothecary but her father, Wulfric, is a pious man who fears that the devil is lurking in the very heart of his home. The narration by Mae’s sister, Leah, is interspersed with excerpts from Wulfric’s diary and these snippets help to provide an insight into his behaviour, as well as revealing key elements of the story.

The book is well written and the characters are all fleshed out and believable. With some interesting twists and turns the book keeps your interest to the end, and you really do feel for Mae and her situation. Set during the plague in the town of Eyam, who chose to quarantine to halt the spread of the illness to Sheffield, there are obviously parallels with our recent experiences of lockdown. Maybe because of recent events the author didn’t want to dwell on this too much, but I felt more could have been made of this particular plot point.

One for fans of historical fiction, this is an entertaining read that will see you through the dark nights of winter!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Set in 1665, this is a fictionalised part of the story of the plague village, Eyam, in the Peak District. This is a village that closed its borders to people to stop the plague spreading further. Isabel Frith is the local midwife, but runs the risk of being thought a witch because of her use of herbs and potions. She draws the hatred of Wulfric, the village apothecary, who is also somewhat of a religious zealot. His daughter, Mae, dreams of becoming his apprentice but will never be allowed, as she is just a girl.

This is a powerful, if slightly slow, read. It features real inhabitants of Eyam, alongside the fictional families. And while it’s about the plague, it’s more the story of the time, where men’s word was law, religion played a great part in every ones lives, and women had no rights. It’s a very well researched and written story, bringing to life the people and places of that era, in Eyam but also in London; you can almost smell the stench of the city. A well crafted read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Beautifully written but a dark and dismal tale. Perhaps it is all too close to jhome during this time of the Covid Pandemic.

The author paints a vivid picture of life in the mid 1600 - not only in small villages but also big cities. The research is excellent even if the story it tells is of pain, sorrow, ignorance and grief. Perhaps an author in the future will tell a similar tale of today’s woes.
Did I enjoy it? Not sure but it will live with me for a time……

What a joy this Book was to read , because amid it's Characters of whom only the Main one's were Fictitious it gave a whole new light on what it must have been like especially for Women to live in these times & more so during the Plague in the Historic Peak District Village of Eyam ! Here under the leadership of the rector, Rev. William Mompesson and his predecessor, the Rev. Thomas Stanley, the villagers agreed to accept strict quarantine to prevent the spread of the disease beyond the village boundary, & other Villages left supplies at the Boundaries to sustain those within, & the Villagers even buried their own Dead when the Gravedigger Marshall Howe succumbed to the Plague , he actually survived unlike his wife & baby son. Out of the 800 villagers 260 died from this dreadful pestilence , we have visited Eyam & even when full of tourists it has a strange eerie atmosphere .I highly recommend this book, & dare any reader not to be greatly moved when reading it . #FB, #NetGalley, #Instagram, #GoodReads, #Amazon.co.uk, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/c566f42be23a0e25d120e78a3454e2d427c4beee" width="80" height="80" alt="50 Book Reviews" title="50 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

The Hemlock Cure by Joanne Burn

Loosely based on a true story.
( Eyam is a Derbyshire village that closed itself off to protect the area during the 17th century when the plague came to the village )
The story is about the village midwife , Isabel Frith with the knowledge of natural potions to help the women and the wider community of Eyam. She has an ally in Mae , the apothecarys daughter , but to some they could be working with the dark forces.
A brilliant book about people trying to find answers to questions and things they don't understand.
I love it when an author brings historic fact and adds fiction to enhance a story.

Incredible book, couldn’t put it down! Extremely well written to the point you feel you are there with them. Deserves to be a best seller.

A well thought out and intricate plot and one in which I really enjoyed. Great variety of the points of view in which the story is told. Also, it does time hop slightly so keep an eye out. Love the threads of witchcraft coming through on this. Powerful, clever, surprising.

A good historical novel about Eyam, and London in the Plague Times., in the seventeenth century. This novel brings history to life, and centres mainly upon the relationship between Isabel and Mae. It is a complex plot, and I shall not reveal any more of it, for fear of spoiling it. However I would recommend it as a good read. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

It can be dangerous to be a knowledgable woman in the 17th century. Isabel Frith is the village midwife and she knows well the power to be found in nature, but she also knows men in the village whisper about witchcraft, so she is very careful to hide her talents and to keep her concerns about the local apothecary, Wulfric Mae, Wulfric’s daughter also fears the apothecary, who would be fiercely angry if he knew she studied from his books and had feelings for Isabel’s ward, Rafe. When Mae uncovers a terrible secret, Mae is the only one she can confide in, but confronting the evil could cost both women their lives. This is an intense, well researched book about ignorance, prejudice and fear; something sadly, not confined to the past

What could have been just another book about how witches lived in the 17th century turned out to be quite satisfying.

"The Hemlock Cure" is based on actual events that took place in a small English village in 1666, during the Great Plague, when the village virtually quarantined itself in an attempt to stem the growing number of deaths from the plague. Mae lives with her father, the village apothecary, helping him to produce his medicines while hoping that he will finally accept her as his apprentice. At the same time, she studies with Isabel, the village midwife and "wise-woman" whose knowledge of herbs and natural remedies, has helped many women.

Isabel shares a mysterious history with Mae's father, and she lives in fear of what might befall Mae while living under his roof.

To reveal more would spoil a many-layered and multi-threaded plot, which at first seems a bit random, but which slowly builds into a glorious picture of life in a small village, and the trials and tribulations of those who practiced medicine in the middle ages. We also take a trip to London, where the sights and smells of the plague-ridden city are drawn to perfection. The book also examines the nature of family, relationships, and religion. There's also a neat twist, in the shape of the narrator of the story.

The book should appeal to fans of Michelle Paver and Stacey Halls, and readers of A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan. Definitely worth a look.