Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
- A Novel
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
Pre-order Now for £19.09
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
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 1920’s 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?
Critic reviews
"Mix equal parts humor, heart, and hope and you’ll get The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern, a sparkling ode to second chances. I adored Augusta on both of the book’s timelines, delighting in both her razor-sharp wit as a present-day Floridian retiree and her unrelenting curiosity as a grieving motherless child, in Brooklyn, whose life is upended by an aunt who appears to have spiritual healing powers. Lynda Cohen Loigman’s latest is a must-read that will leave you believing in the power of believing." —Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
"Lynda Cohen Loigman has done it again with The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern a feel-good story brimming with twists, tinctures, and a few love spells gone wrong. Readers will resonate with Augusta's struggle to balance work and love, and they'll commiserate with her lifelong disappointment over "the one that got away." Or did he? Life doesn't always work out how we planned, but sometimes, the truth—and redemption—are merely waiting to be uncovered. One of the most satisfying endings I've read in a long time." —Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
"Two parts indelible characters, a heaping of gorgeous prose, a pinch of humor and a dash of old-world charm—this romantic elixir may just be Lynda Cohen Loigman’s best work yet. But the magic here is no sleight of hand. It's enthralling to read an author at the top of her game." —Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of The Celebrants
"The happiest I have felt in years inside the world of a book." —Natalie Jenner, #1 nationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society