When asked by Marfield’s magistrate about her motivations, she replies: “My father handed you a profession, one I would gladly have taken if I could. Her choice of profession may be eyebrow-raising, but her justification turns her into a sympathetic character. Lavinia is alone in a world that is not friendly to women without a father or a husband. But as Lavinia climbs the ladder of success amongst the unscrupulous and the greedy, she forgets that the greatest danger can lurk where we have put our love and trust.Īpricots and Wolfsbane is a darkly funny tale that sends an important message even as it winks at the reader along the way.
When she discovers the method of making a tasteless, odorless poison, she is offered membership in the secret Guild of Assassins that she has long coveted. Lavinia serves her new patrons faithfully, and, based on her own code of ethics, never murders unless she is paid to do so, or at risk of being exposed. From there she is rescued by another nobleman and becomes his family’s personal poison master, working to clear their way to titles and inheritance. But when opportunity presents itself to make a hit on a viscount, Lavinia cannot resist the prospect of “career advancement.” The job succeeds, but Lavinia is captured as she flees and is carted off to jail. Her method of dispatching “thieves, cheating husbands and dishonest bankers” are poisons she proudly and lovingly derives from a variety of plants, from castor beans to mushrooms to the meat of apricot seed.įor a while, the business of poison-making and murder for hire among the lower strata of Marfield’s society hums cheerfully along. Herself orphaned at a young age, Lavinia turns her passion for gardening and scientific discovery, fueled by no small dose of “dark cravings,” into a reasonably profitable job as an assassin in 16th century England. Pohlkamp’s Apricots and Wolfsbane may be a monster, but she is also adorable. Lavinia Maud lies and murders, but she is also hopelessly in love, goes to church regularly, and gives shelter to a pair of orphaned siblings.
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