Eliza Fanning

Quick Facts

• Role: Twelve-year-old housemaid; one of the novel’s three central protagonists anchoring the 1791 timeline
• First appearance: Arrives at the hidden shop at 3 Back Alley to obtain poison for her mistress Mrs. Amwell
• Key relationships: Apprentice-leaning bond with Nella Clavinger; loyal attachment to Mrs. Amwell; fateful connection to Tom Pepper; adversarial orbit around Mr. Amwell; distant but crucial link to Caroline Parcewell in the present-day storyline

Who She Is

At twelve, Eliza is “a mere girl” with a threadbare cloak and thick black hair, but she carries herself “too tall, too proud” for fear to define her. Her clear hazel eyes and poised bearing communicate what the book steadily proves: she sees more than others expect and acts braver than her age suggests. As the errand-girl who knocks on the apothecary’s door and the only child to truly win the wary trust of Nella, Eliza becomes both catalyst and conscience. She walks the seam between empirical poison and the “magick” she longs to believe in, turning a servant’s errand into a search for meaning, justice, and belonging—threads that ultimately stitch her story to Caroline’s centuries later.

Personality & Traits

Eliza’s defining qualities—curiosity, courage, loyalty, and quick intelligence—are never abstract; they are tested in kitchens, fields, and on a bridge in the dark. Her imagination (especially her belief in magick) doesn’t make her naïve; it becomes a tool she wields alongside practical skill.

• Inquisitive and perceptive: Her first visit to the shop is a barrage of questions—about tinctures, beetles, and disguises—revealing a mind alert to how things work and what they cost.
• Brave and resolute: When Nella slows the word “kill,” Eliza does not flinch; later, she steps from Blackfriars Bridge believing her tincture will “save” her—courage sharpened by purpose.
• Loyal: Educated and shown kindness by Mrs. Amwell, Eliza risks everything to protect her; she then transfers that fierce devotion to Nella, becoming protector as much as pupil.
• Intelligent and quick-witted: She absorbs complex instructions, improvises under pressure, and keeps calm through the poisoning and its aftermath.
• Imaginative yet pragmatic: Her faith in magick coexists with practical tasks—harvesting blister beetles at night and correctly dosing poison—so hope and craft reinforce each other.
• Resilient: Missteps (the engraved jar) don’t crush her; they force growth, leading to decisive action that alters both her fate and Nella’s.

Character Journey

Eliza begins as a dutiful servant dispatched on an errand she can barely name and becomes an agent of her own destiny. The apothecary’s hidden room awakens both her intellect and her longing for belonging; she edges from customer to would-be apprentice, proving herself during the egg poisoning and in the fields gathering blister beetles while listening to Nella’s history. Her body’s first blood terrifies her into thinking she is haunted—a confusion that captures how childhood and danger collide in her life. The turning point is her catastrophic mistake—selecting a jar engraved with the shop’s address while preparing poison for Lady Clarence—which imperils Nella and forces Eliza to act with terrifying clarity. She drinks her “magick” tincture and jumps, a calculated gamble where belief, love, and nerve merge. Surviving, she refashions her life into something chosen, not assigned, an embodiment of Self-Discovery and Identity achieved through risk, loyalty, and self-knowledge.

Key Relationships

• Nella Clavinger: Eliza’s youth pierces Nella’s guarded solitude, awakening a tender, protective instinct Nella has long suppressed. In return, Eliza finds a mentor and mirror—someone who dignifies her intellect and trusts her hands. Their bond shifts the novel’s moral center from punishment alone to care: Eliza’s love compels the final rescue, and Nella’s faith gives Eliza the courage to attempt it.

• Mrs. Amwell: Benevolent and instructive, Mrs. Amwell teaches Eliza to read and treats her with respect, forging the loyalty that launches the plot. Eliza’s first poisoning is, in her mind, an act of protection—evidence that her sense of duty is inseparable from affection.

• Mr. Amwell: As master and first victim, his predation and power embody male Betrayal. His death drags Eliza deeper into the apothecary’s clandestine world and clarifies the stakes of misused power—why Nella’s shop exists, and what it demands of those who seek it.

• Tom Pepper: The bookshop boy who gives Eliza a spellbook validates her magickal thinking and, later, becomes her partner. Their eventual marriage suggests a life where wonder and practicality coexist—an echo of the balance she learned with Nella.

Defining Moments

Eliza’s turning points pair private awakenings with public consequences.

• First visit to 3 Back Alley: She arrives small but unshaken, absorbing rules and dangers with composure. Why it matters: Establishes her as capable and trustworthy, earning Nella’s attention—and affection.
• The poisoned eggs: Eliza administers the dose that kills Mr. Amwell. Why it matters: She crosses a moral threshold, joining the apothecary’s underworld and confronting the bodily changes she misreads as haunting, where fear and coming-of-age blur.
• Night harvesting of blister beetles: Working beside Nella, she listens to the older woman’s losses. Why it matters: Labor and confession braid them together; apprenticeship becomes kinship.
• The engraved jar mistake: While preparing the poison for Lady Clarence, Eliza selects a container etched with the shop’s address. Why it matters: Her error exposes the apothecary, transforming curiosity into guilt and forcing her most dangerous act.
• Jumping from Blackfriars Bridge: She drinks her tincture and lets go of the railing. Why it matters: The culmination of her arc—belief, courage, and loyalty fused into decisive action that saves Nella and remakes Eliza’s future.

Symbolism

Eliza stands at the crossroads of science and “magick,” embodying hope where Nella’s work bends toward Revenge and Justice. Her survival reframes the story’s darkness: female care and ingenuity don’t just avenge harm; they build lives. In this, Eliza becomes the book’s brightest emblem of Female Solidarity and Empowerment.

Essential Quotes

"I have never—" She paused. "I have never killed anyone."

Eliza’s halting admission captures her innocence on the cusp of complicity. The pause is the hinge: she is both child and accomplice, and the sentence marks the moment she recognizes the moral weight of what she is about to do.

I looked to Eliza’s letter on the table and ran my thumb across one edge. Given her youth, I felt it necessary to remind her of something. "And you understand that this will not just harm him? This will not just make him ill, but—" I slowed my words. "This will kill him, as surely as it would kill an animal? That is what you and your mistress intend?" Little Eliza looked up at me, her eyes sharp. She folded her hands neatly in front of her. "Yes, miss." As she said it, she did not so much as flinch.

This exchange binds resolve to responsibility. Nella articulates the full consequence, and Eliza’s steady “Yes” is not bravado but clarity—she chooses to shoulder adult knowledge for someone she loves.

"I must say that I loved your tea and I love this hidden shop, and I very much hope we meet again."

Wonder softens secrecy here: the hidden shop becomes not only a site of vengeance but a sanctuary for learning and belonging. Eliza’s affection signals the shift from transaction to attachment—the seed of her desire to apprentice.

"It will save me," she whispered. Then her fingers, one by one, slid from the railing like ribbons.

The bridge scene distills Eliza’s arc into a single image: faith turned into action. Whether the saving is alchemical or psychological matters less than her conviction; belief and bravery are the mechanisms of survival.

"Both Tom and I owe our very lives to the magick arts," she told the reporters, before explaining that long ago, in London, her very own magick blend saved her life. "I was only a child. It was my first tincture, but I risked my life for a special friend, one who still encourages and counsels me to this very day."

In the epilogue, Eliza reframes her past as origin story, not trauma. Publicly naming “magick” as life-giving, she honors the bond with Nella and affirms a worldview where courage, care, and craft create futures.