The Apothecary ~ Maile Meloy

A fast-paced fantastical thriller. There aren't many tropes left out of this plot, but Meloy weaves them into a masterfully brilliant tapestry. Russian spies, alchemy, nuclear chemistry, plant lore, shape shifting, McCarthyism, first love. It's all in here, and none of it comes off as trite.

Fourteen-year-old Janie is forced to leave behind her Hollywood life thanks to Senator McCarthy. Her parents are fortunate to find script-writing jobs for the BBC, so the family moves to struggling post-war London. From the sunshine of California to the land of grey.

Of course, Janie does not feel at home in this new life. But she quickly makes friends with Benjamin Burrows, the son of the local apothecary. Benjamin has dreams of becoming a spy and is already honing his skills by watching a Russian diplomat pass messages in the park. He invites Janie to join him, and soon they are up to their necks in political and supernatural intrigue. Benjamin's father goes missing; they get arrested for the murder of a gardener; and they get chased through London by a scarred former Stasi thug and Janie's Latin teacher.

They team up with a pick-pocket, a Chinese herbalist and the Russian's son and enlist help from the uber-rich teen queen at Janie & Benjamin's school. And eventually they save a small island of Samoyed's from certain destruction.

The end of the book is well-done, tying off all the threads (a rarity in these days of multi-book deals and rampant series writing), yet it manages to leave room for more. Can't wait for the next installment!