Verity Holloway is the first cousin, five times removed, of Thomas Holloway of Pills and Ointment fame. Her book exploring the life, work and times of her ancestor is a really good read. Its combination of a comprehensive biography with some excellent contextual sections provides the wider story that has previously been abbreviated in short articles or chapter on Holloway and individual aspects of his life.

British Society for the History of Pharmacy

As featured in

Antiques Diary, March 2017

Where there are the inevitable gaps in what is known about Thomas's life, Holloway seeks context, placing him within his social and historical setting, and adding a range of fascinating anecdotes. In doing so, she creates an entertaining and informative account of his life.

Read it for: A well-written account of how quacks duped their customers and how there was little redress, despite the best attempts of the Victorian press

Your Family History, February 2017

The mighty healer is about a Victorian man named Thomas Holloway. He was one of the most famous quacks of the age who was a philanthropist. He was also a champion of women’s education, which was really rare for the time. Even many women thought that a woman’s life was about “being” rather than “knowing”. While this book is about Holloway and his deeds through life, my deep interest in this book became the larger picture of Victorian society. There is quite a bit of information about institutions such as debtors prisons, asylums and the general public's view about who were in them. This is an excellent book for anyone interested historical marketing, and commerce. By telling this specific story, you understand a bit of the commerce and business practices of Victorian business people. This includes the mindset of potential customers of the time as well. For instance, Victorians often took many different types of “curatives” at one time, including those prescribed by a real physician. The reasoning being that one would hit the intended target. Alongside this lovely historical narrative are pictures of the marketing, product packaging, and satire from the time. All of this lent to a book that I read in no time. Excellent!

Goodreads, Michelle McMenamin