The Apothecary

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

The novel’s narrator and protagonist is Janie, a 14-year-old girl who longs for more confidence than she has. She idolizes Katharine Hepburn, a famously independent and unconventional actress from the mid-20th century: “She was my favorite movie star, and I thought if I could walk like her, then I could feel and be like her, so sure and confident, tossing her head and snapping out a witty retort” (5). Janie is somewhat more capable than she gives herself credit for: She handles being followed by strange men with poise, evading them so that she can enter her home unseen. Still, she matures a lot by the novel’s end, as is evident in her admonishing her father when he tells her that the family is moving to London: “Don’t call me kiddo” (11), she says when he encourages her to laugh at their situation. At the same time, she’s somewhat petulant, refusing to accept her parents’ decision or rationale for the move.

Janie recognizes that she isn’t “graceful about the move” (12), though she comes around quickly. As she’s treated like a capable and adult individual—by her parents, by the gardener, initially by Danby, and later by Burrows and his friends—Janie begins to gain the confidence she longs for.