The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

To music fans, Maile Meloy might be most familiar as the sister of the Decemberists' lead singer Colin Meloy. Beyond their creative tendencies, however, the two siblings have very little in common - while Colin's band is known for wordy, Victorian novel-esque melodrama, his sister's writing tends to be sparse and understated, with a focus on realism.

The Apothecary belongs to the time-honored tradition of young adult fiction in which a young protagonist stumbles onto a powerful secret and is swept up in a dangerous adventure. As the story begins, our heroine, fourteen-year-old Janie Scott, is devastated that she has to move from beautiful, sunny California to cold, grey London. The reason for the move - it's 1952, and Janie's parents are escaping the reactionary political climate in the US, where they are blacklisted from their work in the TV industry as suspected communists. The oppressive atmosphere of the Cold War is drawn brilliantly, as the daily reality of school bomb drills and the overhanging threat of nuclear annhilation are depicted from a teenager's point of view.

Janie's just starting to adjust to her new life when she befriends Benjamin Burrows, an intriguing boy who is the son of the local chemist. Mr. Burrows, it turns out, doesn't just sell cough syrup and headache remedies: he's an old-school apothecary, in possession of an invaluable ancient book – the Pharmacopoeia – full of recipes for powerful magic potions. When Mr. Burrows disappears, it's up to Janie and Benjamin to protect the book from the shady characters who want to steal its secrets for their own sinister purposes.

Starting out as a realistic adventure story, the novel switches course abruptly into fantasy when Janie and Benjamin use one of the recipes, and it turns out to be genuine: these potions really can make you become invisible or change into a bird. With this powerful toolbox on their side, Janie and Benjamin set about rescuing Benjamin's father, and soon fall in with a clique of other benevolent magic practitioners, engaged in attempting to avert nuclear catastrophe.

Maile Meloy's previous work has been realistic fiction: with finely-drawn, complex characters, her dark, dramatic stories beautifully convey the subtleties of interpersonal relationships. Despite the younger target audience, her literary-fiction background shows in her new book. While many authors writing for young adults are satisfied with creating stock characters who inhabit melodramatic clichés of teenage angst, Meloy's characterisation is refreshingly nuanced and believable; Janie is a very real 14-year-old girl, just beginning to come to terms with the complications of the adult world.

While Meloy's strength in realism and characterisation shines through, the fantastic elements fall short at times. The alchemy-like magic system seems a little too easy when, for example, children can create an invisibility potion using high school chemistry lab equipment. And while the characters experience a few narrow escapes, it surprised me that there was very little consequence or drawback to using such strong magic. There are hints pointing to the existence of a dark force which strengthens when very powerful spells are used, but it never becomes an important presence in the story, leaving the reader to speculate. However, letting some things remain mysterious isn't a bad thing, especially since Meloy plans to write at least one sequel to The Apothecary. I look forward to learning more about the details of alchemical magic in future installments.

In the tradition of classics of children's speculative fiction like Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, The Apothecary is a highly enjoyable read, with its sensitive treatment of complex subjects and fine writing making it a worthwhile choice for adults as well as children. It's easy to picture it becoming very successful as a series, especially since this genre is currently undergoing quite a surge of popularity. If you know an avid reader of the target age group, or if you simply enjoy the occasional young-adult novel, I'd highly recommend picking this up. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment myself.

- Grace Nye

Listen to an interview with the author here.