Quick Synopsis – Augusta Stern is about to turn 80 and has been quietly pushed into retirement. When she settles in a retirement community in Florida, she runs into an old beau from her childhood, Irvin. What follows is a story set between the 1920s and late 1980s as we unravel the life of Augusta Stern.

Song This Reminds Me Of – I’ll Be Seeing You by Billie Holiday

Publication Date – Oct. 8, 2024

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐.5 out of 5

Review – The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern is a historical fiction novel with some romance elements. Augusta is the main character, though we do get some POV chapters that focus on her Aunt Esther and Irvin (the beau). I liked this story, it had a little bit of everything – romance, mystery, and a little bit of 1920s mobsters. I think the ending was a little rushed for me and some of the dialogue kind of suffered for it.

Each chapter is told between the present day (late 1980s) and the past (the 1920s). In the past, the focus is on Augusta in her formative teenage years and how after her mother passed away, her Aunt Esther comes to live with her family. It starts off with Augusta being pretty singularly focused on following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a pharmacist. But her Aunt Esther is also a pharmacist of a sort, only she focuses on herbs instead of pills. As Augusta learns more, the story also builds what life was like in the 1920s and Augusta’s love story with Irvin. The present-day storyline is more focused on Augusta trying to determine her feelings 60 years later and coping with the sudden loss of her life’s work.

I thought this was a lovely slice of life novel. I loved the oral history of passing herbal remedies through Augusta’s family. It was heartbreaking, but very real that both Aunt Esther and Augusta faced prejudice for being women and treating medical ailments. Aunt Esther, at one point, says in her home village there was a man who did the same thing she did, only he was an apothecary, and she was a witch. That sentiment is repeated in several subtle ways throughout the book. I loved that Augusta accomplishes what she wants in life, and it never truly seems like a sacrifice that she worked for a living.

This is a lovely book, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.