Emily Hall, co-owner of Main Street Books in St. Charles, Mo., shares words of praise for The After-Room, the conclusion to Maile Meloy’s Apothecary trilogy, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr. The bookseller looks forward to introducing the novel, which is due from Putnam in November, to her young customers.
I’m usually not the biggest fan of middle-grade literature. I prefer the steam and intrigue of historical paranormal steampunk romance, or the sometimes crass yet factual portrayals of high-school seniors looking to figure out their lives. So when I took over Main Street Books in February 2014, I did not expect one of the first books I read to be The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, a novel for readers ages 10-up. It’s about Janie, a 14-year-old girl who meets Benjamin, the son of a pharmacist with a book full of maybe-magical potions, after moving to England in the 1950s with her blacklisted parents. But the plot intrigued me, so I picked it up.
The Apothecary blew me away. It was incredibly well-plotted, engaging, vivid, and surprising, with kids turning into birds and thwarting a nuclear test with a magic tome. I fell in love with it instantly, and rushed to read its sequel, The Apprentices, which took the characters to exotic locales and maintained all the wonder and mystery of the first book. The After-Room, the final book in this gorgeously written trilogy, continues this brilliant legacy with a deft sweep of Meloy’s talented pen.
Janie and Benjamin are living in America, trying to be normal teenagers after the last three years of traveling and saving the world. Benjamin is struggling with the guilt he feels over the fate of his father, and Janie is struggling with her feelings for Benjamin, amplified by their proximity at school and at home.
Meanwhile, their friends across the ocean are hunting a man who would sell devastating weapons to the highest bidder – a man with a grudge against Janie and Benjamin. The stakes have never been higher as Janie and Benjamin race to stop a disaster and find their friends, and ultimately admit their feelings about each other. The After-Room will delight you. It will stun you. It will thrill you. It may even break your heart.
This entire trilogy is enchanting, and assuages the fears of many moms looking for advanced yet appropriate content in novels their children read. I love handselling this series, and it has instilled in me a better appreciation of those writers who give us great middle-grade stories. Bravo, Maile Meloy!
The After-Room: An Apothecary Novel by Maile Meloy. Putnam, $17.99 Nov. ISBN 978-0-399-17544-2
