The Poison Diaries - by Maryrose Wood & The Duchess of Northumberland (Paperback)

About the Book

This is the first in a sexy gothic romance trilogy--a tale of love, revenge, and the world of plants that cure or kill, set in the 18th century and inspired by the real Poison Garden near Alnwick Castle in England.

From the Back Cover

In the right dose, everything is a poison . . . even love.

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle with her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary. His pride and obsession, a poison garden, contains exotic and local specimens of the most dangerous plants in the world. But Jessamine is absolutely forbidden to enter.

Her life changes forever the day a traveler brings a stranger to their cottage, claiming that the young man has special gifts that Thomas might value. Jessamine is intrigued by the young man, who goes by the name of Weed. He has an intense sensitivity to growing things, and an even rarer and more specialized knowledge about plants than Thomas does. As Jessamine falls in love with Weed, she learns his extraordinary secret--and is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined. . . .

Review Quotes

"This intriguing fantasy has many tendrils to wrap around teen hearts: there is a budding romance between Jessamine and Weed, a grave illness that threaten's Jessamine's life, Weed's supernatural skills, a series of chilling folk-lore worthy tests of Weed's love, and encounters with Oleander, a figure who enters Jessamine's fevered dreams and implores her to abandon Weed and join him in death. The haunting ending will leave readers wanting to talk about the themes of cruelty, honesty, and loyalty." - Booklist
"This intriguing fantasy has many tendrils to wrap around teen hearts. The haunting ending will leave readers wanting to talk about the themes of cruelty, honesty, and loya--lty." - Booklist
"Lyrical and lovely, a fast-paced literary gem."-- - Ally Carter, New York Times bestselling author of Heist Society
"A passionate story....Wood does a marvelous job of creating heart-wrenching decisions for her characters and portraying a doomed romance reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet." - Publishers Weekly
"Wood fashions a narrative whose conventions of gothic romance intertwine with, then utterly succumb to, the brutal forces of human obsession. Absorbing." - Kirkus Reviews