The Lost Apothecary

Nella records the names of all serviced customers, sold ingredients, and intended victims in her calfskin register. However, she places particular importance on recording the names of the women who purchase mixtures from her, adamant that their names are not forgotten by the world around them. Nella’s register can be read as a response to a world whose forgetfulness she has experienced firsthand, as she has no siblings or friends, never knew her father, and lost her one blood relative with her mother’s death. At the beginning of the novel, Nella has no close companions to hold fond, profound memories of her. Though her clients may remember her once she passes, the transient nature of their interactions do not enable intimate recollections of Nella’s life or the person she was. Nella’s relentless recording of these names can be further read as her way of preventing such a fate for others, even if she cannot prevent it for herself. Though the register does mark temporal movement with each additional entry, it ironically stands for Nella’s desire to stagnate time. Nella’s register also reveals her naivety, as she does not fully recognize that her register could actively harm these women until Eliza brings it up in the wake of Lady Clarence’s threat.