The Hemlock Cure by Joanne Burn was first published in 2022 by Sphere. The setting is Eyam in  England’s Peak District  in 1665/66. Apparently I’ve been pronouncing that village name wrongly for decades, it should be ‘Eem’. This is a book which I borrowed from the library, so it wasn’t on my original list of 20 Books of Summer, but I realised that I had inadvertently added three books to that list which I had already read, so I substituted this book for one of them.

Mae is the surviving daughter of Wulfric, a herbalist/apothecary and religious zealot, unhappy about the introduction of the new Book of Common Prayer by the king. Mae is keen to become her father’s apprentice but she’s kept busy with housework.  Her mother had died not long after she had given birth to a dead son. Isabel Frith is the local midwife and herbalist. Wulfric despises Isabel and seems to think that she caused his wife and son’s death, hinting at witchcraft. Unknown to Wulfric Mae is being taught herbalism by Isabel. He has taken on a young man as his apprentice, so Mae’s hopes for her future are dashed.

Obviously The Plague features in the book, but not to any huge extent, as does homosexuality. It was an enjoyable read.