Sweet As You Like - Victorian Sweet Shop Romance - The People's Friend Special

 

Illustration by Mandy Dixon

Out this month in The People's Friend Special is my latest short story. This one is set in Norwich and is actually a prequel to a past story, Carried By The Wind, but you don't need to have read that one to enjoy Sweet As You Like! :)

Lavender and Leeches - What Did A Victorian Pharmacy Offer?

As a lookback on my past works, this blog post is going to focus on my short story Lavender and Leeches. This was previously published in The People’s Friend magazine back in 2019. 

Alongside it was this lovely illustration by Jim Dewar.

It was my sixth story with the magazine and was heavily inspired by watching reruns of Victorian Pharmacy, a BBC documentary series starring Ruth Goodman where historians recreated working in a 19^th century pharmacy. 

Other influences came from the pharmacy display at the Bridewell Museum in Norwich, which, while based on a 20^th century pharmacy, certainly has a varied and interesting selection of old medicines. There’s even a carboy 😊