The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
p. 1 How old was Jane when Japan surrendered at the end of WWII? 7 and she lived in Los Angeles.
p. 2 What would Jane name her new sister if she ever got one? Lulu
p. 2 What were Jane’s parents’ names? Marjorie and Davis Scott.
p. 2 What did Marjorie and Davis Scott do for a living? They were a writing team that started out in radio
then worked on TV shows like Fireside Theater and I Love Lucy.
p. 3 What school did Jane attend in Los Angeles? Hollywood High where she was in the ninth grade.
p. 3 What was the name of the turtle in the safety film about what to do in the case of a nuclear bomb?
Bert the turtle who would duck and cover.
p. 4 What grade was Jane in when she began to feel that someone was watching her in Los Angeles?
Ninth grade.
p. 5 What were Jane’s favorite trousers? Bright green sailor pants with 4 big buttons and flared legs.
p. 5 Who was Jane’s favorite movie star? Katherine Hepburn.
p. 5 How old was Jane when she first felt like she was being watched? 14
p. 6 Who did Jane see in the black sedan that had been following her? Two men in dark suits.
p. 6 What was the street that Jane’s family lived on in LA? Vista
p. 7 In which room of the house did Jane feel the safest? The kitchen which is where she would sit doing
homework while listening to her parents talk.
p. 7 What was Jane’s favorite restaurant in LA? Musso and Frank’s.
p. 8 Who did Jane’s dad say the men in the dark sedan that had been following Jane were? U.S. Marshals
from Washington.
p. 9 What type of tree was in front of Jane’s house in LA? An orange tree.
p. 9 How did Janie’s father describe communism? People sharing resources and own everything
communally so there weren’t wildly rich people and desperately poor people.
p. 9 Why did the Lardners have to move to Mexico according to Jane? The father was a communist.
p. 10 Why did Janie’s family need to move to London so quickly – within a week? Because the
government was going to begin confiscating passports soon so that people couldn’t leave the country.
p. 10 What type of job did Olivia Wolff offer to Jane’s parents? To come to London to work on the
television show about Robin Hood that Olivia was producing.
p. 11 How did Jane’s dad get on the House Committee on Un-American Activities list according to what
he told Janie? By believing in freedom of speech, by having faith in the 1st amendment.
p. 11 What did Jane order to eat at Musso and Frank’s restaurant? Flannel cakes
p. 12 Who was the new queen of England when Jane arrived there? Queen Elizabeth II.
p. 12 What was the name of the airport in London where Jane’s family landed? Heathrow Airport.
p. 13 Where in London was Jane’s family’s flat or apartment? St. George’s Street in Primrose Hill.
p. 13 What is a haberdasher? A tailor. There was a haberdasher across the street from Jane’s flat.
p. 13 What was Jane’s landlady’s name? Mrs. Parrish
p. 13 Why would they have to heat pots of water on the stove? The gas water heater over the kitchen
sink was broken.
p. 14 What did you have to put into the gas heater on the wall to make work? Penny coins.
p. 15 Where did Mrs. Parrish recommend that Jane’s family go to get hot water bottles and English
pennies? To the apothecary around the corner on Regent’s Park.
p. 15 What is an apothecary like? A pharmacy.
p. 15 What was like leaving a Technicolor movie and walking into a black-and-white one? Going from LA
to London in 1952.
p. 15 In what year was the apothecary established? 1871
p. 16 What did Jane’s father ask for at the apothecary and was dismayed to find that there was none
and had not been a steady supply of since the war? Chocolate bars.
p. 17 What did the apothecary give to Jane for her homesickness? A small glass jar of aspen (brown) and
honeysuckle (yellow). Jane was supposed to put a dram of each in a glass of water and drink it to relieve
her homesickness.
p. 17 How much was a dram? About a teaspoon.
p. 17 How much did the apothecary charge for his homesickness concoction that he made for Jane?
Nothing, it was free of charge.
p. 18 What was Jane’s school in London? St. Beden’s which was a grammar school. To get into the
school, you had to pass a test. If you didn’t pass, you would have to go to a secondary modern school.
p. 19 When was St. Beden’s school built? 1880
p. 19 What level at school was Jane put in at St. Beden’s school? Third form.
p. 19 What was Jane’s first class of the day at St. Beden’s? Latin
p. 20 What was the name of the beautiful girl that the school secretary got to escort Jane to Latin class?
Sarah Pennington.
p. 21 Why was the Latin teacher, Mr. Danby, considered a hero? He was a pilot in the RAF and had shot
down lots of planes before becoming a German prisoner of war.
p. 21 What did London or Londinium use to be the capital of during Roman times? The capital of the
Roman province of Brittania.
p. 22 Who wrote the Latin phrases that Mr. Danby wanted the class to translate on Jane’s first day at St.
Beden’s? Horace.
p. 23 According to Mr. Danby, what is a rustic? A fool
p. 24 What did Jane’s mom say that moving to London would be like for Jane? Living in a Jane Austen
novel.
p. 24 At whose table did Jane sit on the first day at St. Beden’s? At the table where Sergei Shiskin sat. He
was a Russian outcast.
p. 25 Who was the only person at St. Beden’s who wouldn’t get under the table during the bomb drill
during lunch? Benjamin Burrows. He said it was idiotic because getting under the table wasn’t going to
save them from the bombs.
p. 29 Who was Benjamin Burrow’s father? The apothecary.
p. 31 What did Benjamin say was the reason why he was following Jane? She interested him.
p. 33 Who was paying for Benjamin’s school fees at St. Beden’s? The Society of Apothecaries. The
Society assumed that if they paid for Benjamin’s school, he would become one of them.
p. 33 Why didn’t Benjamin want to become an apothecary? It was boring, nothing but being a pill
counter.
p. 34 What did Benjamin want to be rather than an apothecary? He wanted to work for the Secret
Intelligence Service.
p. 35 Where did Benjamin invite Jane to go with him on Saturday at 2? Hyde Park to play chess.
p. 36 What was the name of Jane’s parents’ studio in London? Riverton Studios
p. 44 Who was Benjamin observing the first time Jane went to play chess with him in Hyde Park? Leonid
Shiskin – the father of Sergei Shiskin, the Russian kid at school.
p. 44 What did Leonid Shiskin do at the Soviet Embassy? He was an accountant.
p. 44 What did Benjamin believe that Leonid Shiskin was doing at the park? Passing secret messages to
people by leaving part of his newspaper on the bench.
p. 45 To what place did Benjamin and Jane follow the man who took part of the newspaper from Leonid
Shiskin in the park? To the Connaught Hotel.
p. 47 Who did Benjamin and Jane run into at the Connaught Hotel who had been there for tea? Sarah
Pennington and her mother.
p. 48 What did the desk clerk call the man that Benjamin and Jane followed to the Connaught Hotel
from Hyde Park? Your Excellency.
p. 49 What funny name did Jane’s father give to Benjamin? Master Figment.
p. 52 Who did Benjamin remind Jane of because he was dashing and brave? Robin Hood
p. 52 Who was the man who sat on the bench with Shiskin on Sunday that shocked Benjamin? His
father.
p. 53 What was unusual about Shiskin’s leg? It was wooden.
p. 53 What did the message say that the apothecary had gotten form Shiskin then ripped up and thrown
in the trash can? Jin Lo has been taken. You’ll be next.
p. 56 What book did the Apothecary want Benjamin to protect? The Pharmacopoeia. It had been in their
family for 700 years.
p. 56 Where did the apothecary send Benjamin and Jane to hide with the Pharmacopoeia when the men
came to the apothecary to find it? In the cellar.
p. 56 What language did the men speak who came in search of the Pharmacopoeia at the apothecary
shop? German.
p. 58 What did Benjamin and Jane find when they climbed out of the cellar with the Pharmacopoeia
book? The place was ransacked and the apothecary was missing.
p. 59 Where did Benjamin and the apothecary live? In a flat above the apothecary shop.
p. 59 Why didn’t Benjamin and Jane call the police after the men broke into the apothecary shop and
the apothecary disappeared? The apothecary had told them not to call the police.
p. 61 What had happened to Benjamin’s mother? She had died in a bombing raid in the war.
p. 62 What explained why Benjamin thought it was idiotic to hide under the table during the bombing
drill? His mother was killed during a bombing raid.
p. 62 What was the embossed symbol on the cover of the Pharmacopoeia? A circle at the center with an
upside down triangle in it. Around that circle, was a star with 7 points inside another circle with smaller
circles between the points of the star.
p. 63 What languages did Benjamin recognize in the words written in the Pharmacopoeia? Latin and
Greek.
p. 66 Where did Benjamin and Jane go when Benjamin got Jane out of study hall on the pretense that
they were going to shelve books in the library? To the Chelsea Physic Garden.
p. 66 What was the Chelsea Physic Garden? It was started in the 17th century as a kind of museum and
nursery for medicinal plants from all over the world.
p. 66 When had Benjamin stopped going to the Physic Garden with his dad? When he turned 10 – he
didn’t think he needed to tag along anymore to the stupid garden.
p. 67 Where in the garden was the symbol that matched the one on the cover of the Pharmacopoeia?
On a wrought iron fence gate that led to a walled inner garden.
p. 67 Who was Jin Lo? A Chinese alchemist.
p. 69 What was the symbol on the Pharmacopoeia and the gate at the Physic Garden? The Azoth of the
Philosophers. The triangle in the center is water, the source of all life. Seven smaller circles are the
operations of alchemy: calcinations, separation, dissolution.
p. 70 Why did Benjamin say that alchemists were crackpots? They were fools trying to make gold.
p. 70 What was in the Pharmacopoeia? Hundreds of years of secrets learned through lifetimes of
research and practice according to the gardener at the Physic Garden.
p. 70 What did the Smell of Truth infusion do? It made it impossible for a person to tell a lie.
p. 71 What were the most difficult of all things in the Pharmacopoeia? The transformative elixirs which
actually changed the substance at hand i.e. the avian elixir turned a human into a bird.
p. 72 What was the Pharmacopoeia rather than a book of spells? A book of medicines and methods of
healing.
p. 70 Who was a famous alchemist according to the gardener at the Physic Garden? Sir Issac Newton.
p. 73 To make the Smell of Truth, why was the time that you harvested the herbs important? The fullest
light of the day eliminated all shadow and deceit. The herb used was the Artemesia Veritas.
p. 74 How did you make the Smell of Truth? You crush the leaves of the herb and boil them in water to
release the smell.
p. 74 After they had made the Smell of Truth, how were they going to test that it worked? Benjamin and
Jane had to tell who they fancied.
p. 77 Under the effects of the Smell of Truth, who did Jane say she fancied, and who did Benjamin say he
fancied? Jane liked Benjamin while he fancied Sarah Pennington.
p. 78 Who did Jane tell Benjamin that Sarah Pennington had a crush on? Mr. Danby
p.