The Poison Diaries [Paperback]

After hearing excellent things about Wood's other YA series, I had high expectations for The Poison Diaries. I wasn't in the least bit disappointed, and I really hope it's the first book in a series. Wood's writing was fantastic, and the imagery she created within her words was just beautiful. Her description of the monastery cottage and its surrounding gardens was also a pleasure to read, and she really brought the setting to life.

The story itself was somewhat unusual, with plants, poison and a carefully guarded apothecary at the forefront of the plot. I loved how everything unfolded into a tale of love and sacrifice, and I was surprised by the actions forced in the last chapter. The Poison Diaries starts off at a steady pace and, at first, it isn't clear where it will end up. All that changes when a new character is introduced, and from then on the book spirals into a web of secrecy and deceit.

Weed was an excellent character, and I would like to see more of him, as well as more of his background and history. I didn't feel like I knew him as well as I could have done, but maybe Wood is saving him for a future instalment in the series? (Fingers crossed). Jessamine was easy to get along with, and I particularly enjoyed her personal thoughts and the extracts from her poison diary. Weed and Oleander, the Prince of Poisons, were the best characters to appear on the pages, and they easily stole the show.

The Poison Diaries was inspired by the current Duchess of Northumberland's public English gardens, of which I now want to visit. I'm sure they're fascinating! Maryrose Wood definitely delivered with this book, and I think I need to dig out my copies of her other series. She certainly has a way with words, not to mention a great knowledge of plants and their poisons.

THE POISON DIARIES is a deliciously dark, gothic tale which has romance, loyalty, humanity and morality at its heart. The story is about Jessamine, a young girl who lives near Alnwick with her father, the apothecary. Their quite life is interrupted when a young boy named Weed comes to live with them. Weed seems to have an unrivalled knowledge of how plants can help in healing remedies. Of course, for Jessamine's father, whose life is devoted to finding out such knowledge to help him in his work, this is both exciting but also infuriating.
That is all of the plot I shall give, I don't want to give anything away. Be assured, there are twists and turns along the way. What I loved about this book was how real it seemed. I read it while on holiday in Northumberland and visiting the famous poison garden of Alnwick Castle, I could easily imagine these events unfurling long ago in the past, as people tried to gain knowledge and power over life and death.
Perhaps one word of warning would be not to expect the usual happily ever after type resolution to the story. Wood has left the story open in such a way that I am hoping there is to be more from these characters and the poison garden. At first it wasn't what I was expecting and I felt dissatisfied with it, but now that I have considered it, it really was an excellent way to bring this story to a close, regardless of a sequel or not.
Highly recommended. And fingers crossed, Weed and Jessamine will be returning to the written word soon.

Jessamine is a 16-year-old girl who lives with her father in an old abbey in the late 18th century. Her father is an apothecary, who grows plants to make remedies to cure the sick, and Jessamine helps him by tending the gardens and house for him, although there is one garden that she is not allowed to enter - her father's poison garden, where he grows all manner of poisonous plants that in the right mixtures can be used to cure the ill and infirm. Jessamine has asked on several occasions if she may see the garden but her father always refuses, and keeps the garden locked with a padlock.

One day an orphan boy is bought to Jessamine's father by the owner of a madhouse in a nearby village. He claims that he was keeping the boy as an unpaid worker in return for shelter, and that the boy had begun to cure his patients of their madness by slipping something into their tea. Enraged, the owner of the madhouse had shouted at the boy, and told him to stop curing his patients - he would put him out of business! Unfortunately, the people of the village then all started to turn quite mad, and the owner of the madhouse was convinced that the boy had poisoned them all in retaliation.

Curious about the boys knowledge of plants, Jessamine's father takes the boy in, and Jessamine learns that he is an orphan, bought up by an alcoholic friar, and has been all alone since the friar's death. The only name the boy knows is Weed, and so this is what they call him.

Jessamine's father tries to convince Weed to tell him all he knows about plants - he is constantly searching for new knowledge, and old remedies that have been lost with the death of the monks who originally inhabited the abbey. But Weed refuses to tell Jessamine's father anything, and instead confides in Jessamine, telling her his secret, and swearing her to secrecy. Weed can talk to plants, and they talk back, and this is how he has learned his healing knowledge.

One day, whilst Jessamine's father is away dealing with a sick patient, Jessamine and Weed kiss, and admit that they have feelings for one another, but are caught by her father, who in turn requests that they become engaged to be married. Jessamine and Weed both agree to this, but after a toast to celebrate, Jessamine falls ill to some strange ailment that her father seems incapable of curing, and he turns to Weed for help curing his daughter.

Poor Weed talks to the plants and they say that they cannot help him this time - Jessamine's sickness is not of their doing, and so instead Weed finds himself entering the poison garden, the place that he detests most in search of a cure for Jessamine. With time running out, Weed knows that he must do the poisonous plants bidding if he wants to save Jessamine, but at what cost?

This book was a good read, quite obviously intended for a young-adult audience, but the characters are believeable and the story quite intriguing, the ending also left the way open for a sequel, without leaving the book without an ending. 3/5