During the latter part of Henry VIII's reign (1509-1547), Bianca Goddard knew a thing or two about medicinal herbs. When her friend Jolyn visits her, complaining of stomach pains, Bianca's tonic only seems to exacerbate the pain and Jolyn dies. While Bianca suspects that Jolyn must have been poisoned elsewhere, the law in the form of Constable Patch is certain that Bianca's cure must have been the cause. Bianca needs to find the killer before she herself is convicted of the murder.
If I were in a friendly mood, I would say that the plot meanders slowly through the story, like the Thames does through London. But if I'm honest, the plot is so full of holes that a small moon could easily pass through them. In 1543, London was home to about 50,000 inhabitants, but almost none of them seems to have found their way into 'The Alchemist's Daughter'. London seems to be devoid of people and only the characters in the story often coincidentally meet each other.
The protagonist, Bianca, is portrayed as strong-willed and intelligent, but her antics and foolish decisions put her constantly in danger and imprisonment. Were it not for her lover, John, she would not have survived her own adventure. Furthermore, Mary Lawrence seems to have an obsession with rats and uses them as a means to describe the filth of London, but also as a solution to a problem. There are simply too many of them in the story.
There are other problems too. The author is from the US and her use of Tudor English is contrived, and sometimes Americanisms filter through. And I wonder if the first name of Bianca would have been allowed in Henry VIII's England.
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