The BookBrowse Review

Published December 4, 2024

ISSN: 1930-0018

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Contents

In This Edition of
The BookBrowse Review

Highlighting indicates debut books

Editor's Introduction
Reviews
Hardcovers
Recommended for Book Clubs
Book Discussions

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Publishing Soon

Literary Fiction


Historical Fiction


Essays


Poetry & Novels in Verse


Mysteries


Thrillers


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History


Biography/Memoir


History, Current Affairs and Religion


True Crime


Travel & Adventure


Young Adults

Literary Fiction


Historical Fiction


Mysteries


Thrillers


Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History


Graphic Novels


History, Current Affairs and Religion


Science, Health and the Environment


Extras
  • Blog:
    First Impressions Favorites: 2024’s Best Reader-Reviewed Books
  • Holiday Wordplay:
    Solve all 15!
Book Jacket

Everything Is Poison
by Joy McCullough
14 Jan 2025
304 pages
Publisher: Dutton for Young Readers
Genre: Historical Fiction
Critics:

A Blood Water Paint-style historical YA in prose and verse from New York Times bestselling author Joy McCullough.

Early Seventeenth-Century Rome

For as long as she can remember, Carmela Tofana has desperately wanted one thing: to be a part of La Tofana's, her mother's apothecary in Campo Marzio, Rome. When she finally turns sixteen, she's allowed into the inner sanctum: the workroom where her mother and two assistants craft renowned remedies for their customers. But for every sweet-smelling flower extract in the workroom, there's another potion requiring darker ingredients. And then there's Aqua Tofana, the apothecary's remedy of last resort. In all Carmela's years of wishing to follow in her mother's footsteps, she never realized one tiny vial could be the death of them all.

Everything Is Poison is a story of a deadly secret hiding in plain sight and of the women who risk everything to provide care for those with nowhere else to turn.

"Bracing…Enrapturing…This eloquent, rapid-fire novel is rich in cadence and history." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Fans of McCullough's Blood Water Paint (2018) will be enthralled to delve into another story that includes interspersed verse on the subject of 'giving women a choice over what happens to their bodies.' A must-read for those who embrace the #MeToo movement." —Booklist (starred review)

"Everything Is Poison's mixture of tenderness, brutality, loneliness, resignation, and joy makes for an intimate reading experience. Free-verse poems between prose chapters elevate the story and highlight the universal elements. An emotionally stirring celebration of women finding community." —Kirkus Reviews

Joy McCullough is a playwright and the New York Times bestselling author of many books for children and young adults, including Blood Water Paint, which was longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award. She studied theater at Northwestern University, fell in love with her husband atop a Guatemalan volcano, and writes books and plays from her home in the Seattle area.

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