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Book Summary and Reviews of The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

A Novel

by Lynda Cohen Loigman

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  • Published:
  • Oct 2024, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It's never too late for new beginnings.

On the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. When she relocates to Rallentando Springs―an active senior community in southern Florida―she unexpectedly crosses paths with Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father's old pharmacy―and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier.

As a teenager growing up in 1920s Brooklyn, Augusta's role model was her father, Solomon Stern, the trusted owner of the local pharmacy and the neighborhood expert on every ailment. But when Augusta's mother dies and Great Aunt Esther moves in, Augusta can't help but be drawn to Esther's curious methods. As a healer herself, Esther offers Solomon's customers her own advice―unconventional remedies ranging from homemade chicken soup to a mysterious array of powders and potions.

As Augusta prepares for pharmacy college, she is torn between loyalty to her father and fascination with her great aunt, all while navigating a budding but complicated relationship with Irving. Desperate for clarity, she impulsively uses Esther's most potent elixir with disastrous consequences. Disillusioned and alone, Augusta vows to reject Esther's enchantments forever.

Sixty years later, confronted with Irving, Augusta is still haunted by the mistakes of her past. What happened all those years ago and how did her plan go so spectacularly wrong? Did Irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing a part? And can Augusta reclaim the magic of her youth before it's too late?

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. How did it feel to read about active, witty, fun-loving eighty-plus-year-old characters a second chance at romance? What do you think this novel suggests about the correlation between age and a person's spirit, and about hope and time?
  2. What role do memories play in this novel? How do Augusta's memories of her mother and Aunt Esther, and even her past with Irving, affect her present day?
  3. On page 96, Esther tells Augusta, "My mother and grandmother had kept their skills private, but I chose to share mine with others. Many in my village were grateful to me, especially when my powders cured them of illness." What does this quote suggest about the importance of owning and sharing our gifts with others, even if they set us ...
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Reviews

Media Reviews

"In this poignant tale of late-in-life love, Loigman showcases her talent for transporting readers into recent history through lovingly researched details and a touch of magical whimsy...This is a charmer." ―Publishers Weekly

"Augusta and Irving's love story is charming without being saccharine, and Augusta's tongue-in-cheek wit combined with her renewed hopefulness makes her the perfect unexpected heroine for new beginnings... . For anyone who believes in second chances." ―Kirkus Reviews

"Loigman presents two fully realized time lines, each full of Jewish cultural touchstones, in this charming love story that proves it's never too late for a second chance." ―Booklist

"Utterly charming and delightfully heartwarming, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern will cast a spell on you from the very first page." ―Allison Winn Scotch, bestselling author of The Rewind

"Loigman's latest is a perfect gem! The unforgettable characters in this delightful, beautifully written novel discover that it's never too late to right wrongs, to make a fresh start, and to fall in love all over again. A truly charming, meaningful, and, above all, uplifting story." ―Amy Poeppel, author of The Sweet Spot

"A luminous novel…I was mesmerized from the first page [and] a believer in inevitable love by the end of this marvelous adventure." ―Jimin Han, author of The Apology

This information about The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Elizabeth@Silver'sReviews

A gem and a
Can that really be Irving living in the same retirement complex as Augusta?

Irving was Augusta’s first love, but he broke her heart and married another.

Augusta worked in her father‘s pharmacy, and Irving was the delivery boy.

Sixty years later even though they loved each other for that long, they never had contacted each other.

Can they rekindle their love?

We follow Irving and Augusta in two timelines. The 1920s and then the 1980s.

When Augusta knew she wanted to be with Irving after all these years, she decided to try the love elixir she and her aunt made years ago to see if it would work again.

Can she do it?

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a book that will have you missing the heartwarming characters because of Ms. Loigman’s fabulous storytelling skills.

It is not a romance but a story of decisions made, family, and the regrets of poor communication.

It is another gem you won’t want to miss, and is a “do your heart good”? read. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

PhyllisE

A second-chance story of misunderstandings and magic
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital advance reader copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

The title was charming. The premise was intriguing. And the novel was an appealing page-turner, although a bit predictable. But sometimes that’s the kind of book I feel like reading, with a heartwarming happily ever after.

“The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern” tells the story of a woman of a certain age getting a second chance at love with her first boyfriend of sixty years ago. The narrative is told in two timelines and two locations, alternating between 1920’s New York and 1987 Florida. In addition to Augusta’s coming-of-age story, author Lynda Cohen Loigman inserts a story of Augusta’s Aunt Esther, a woman who learns to both survive and thrive despite the limitations of society.

Growing up in a middle-class Jewish family in New York, Augusta had always wanted to become a pharmacist like her father. While he encouraged her, they both knew it would be difficult as in the 1920s women were not expected to have a career. When Augusta’s mother dies, Aunt Esther comes to live with them - to keep house, cook, and clean.

And that’s when the novel becomes something more. Esther helps people, mostly women, with her mixtures and elixirs, potions and powders, and often her homemade chicken soup. This is where the novel veers into magical realism, and also provides a message about women’s strength and ability to overcome the time period’s restrictions.

“If a person is denied a formal education,” Esther told Augusta, “She must be inventive in her quest for knowledge She must study the folktales and the old stories. She must learn however she can. She must use every tool at her disposable.”

This is a second chance story of misunderstandings and magic, medicine and miracles, fate and forgiveness. It is about Augusta, who “wanted to be a woman who yes, had suffered losses, but whose heart had not yet been broken beyond repair. A woman who was curious and hopeful and who still believed in the glimmers of magic that made their way quietly into the world.”

Jill

Chicken Soup For The Soul
THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUSTA STERN by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC ebook to read.

Like chicken soup for the soul with a bit of magic and a dash of heartbreak along with laughter and a dose of romance sprinkled with hope. I really enjoyed this light and nostalgic read of, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern. A predictable story but entertaining.

Augusta Stern becomes a pharmacist and takes over her father’s pharmacy. Augusta’s Aunt Esther is a huge influence in her life and encourages her to dabble in herbal remedies too. Augusta Stern reluctantly retires in 1987 at the age of eighty years old and relocates to a retirement community, Rallentando Springs, in Boca Raton, Florida. Augusta bumps into an old friend, Irving Rivkin, from her hometown of Brooklyn, who was her father’s delivery boy at the pharmacy, as well as, her boyfriend. It triggers painful memories of their courtship when Irving abruptly abandoned her. The story is told in flashbacks of her youth in Brooklyn and current year 1987.

Will Augusta finally get the answers she deserves of why Irving abandoned her all those years ago? Did Irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing the part? Is it possible to recapture the lost magic of youth?

I enjoyed Lynda Cohen Loigman’s book, The Two-Family House also.

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Author Information

Lynda Cohen Loigman

Lynda Cohen Loigman is the author of The Matchmaker's Gift, The Wartime Sisters, and The Two-Family House. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She grew up in Longmeadow, MA, and now lives in New York.

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