Everything Is Poison

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

For as long as she can remember, Carmela Tofana has desperately wanted one  to be an important part of La Tofana Apothecary, her mother’s apothecary in the Campo Marzio neighborhood of Rome. When she finally turns sixteen, she’s allowed into the workroom of the shop, where her mother and two other women make some of the most effective remedies in all of Rome. They also dispense a healthy amount of good, non-medical advice to their clients. But the workroom of La Tofana is no simple place, and for every sweet-smelling flower extract to be prepared, there’s another potion where the main ingredient is blood or something even less pleasant. And then there’s Aqua Tofana, the apothecary’s remedy of last resort and one of several secrets Carmela never bargained for in all her years of wishing to follow in her mother’s footsteps. 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 most in need.