
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Gabra Zackman
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Lynda Cohen Loigman
About this listen
"Gabra Zackman gloriously performs this charming dual-timeline audiobook." —AudioFile on The Matchmaker's Gift
This program features an author's note read by the author.
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?
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
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Critic 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
"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
"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
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It is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and the ingenious Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan, to open the legendary Dragon Box. The box was constructed during one of Japan’s most tumultuous periods, when the samurai class was disbanded and the shogun lost power. In this moment of crisis, Emperor Meiji locked a priceless Imperial secret in the Dragon Box. Only two people knew how to open the box—Meiji and the box’s sadistic constructor—and both died without telling a soul what was inside or how to open it.
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a great new read
- By Kathryn E. Libby on 10-17-24
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The Sunflower House
- A Novel
- By: Adriana Allegri
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik, Dallin Bradford, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss’s life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle’s bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina’s family hides a terrifying secret—her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling. One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler’s ruthless eugenics program.
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The effort to help children.
- By Patricia McNally-Marshall on 04-07-25
By: Adriana Allegri
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The Storm We Made
- A Novel
- By: Vanessa Chan
- Narrated by: Samantha Tan
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.
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Confusing
- By Brev on 04-25-24
By: Vanessa Chan
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Behind Every Good Man
- A Novel
- By: Sara Goodman Confino
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s a doozy of a bad day for Beverly Diamond when she catches her husband, Larry, in a compromising position with his secretary. What’s a DC suburban wife to do with a soon-to-be ex, two young kids, and no degree or financial support in 1962? Beat the louse at his own game, that’s what.
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So entertaining
- By Compute on 09-16-24
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The Trade Off
- A Novel
- By: Samantha Greene Woodruff
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Bea Abramovitz has a gift for math and numbers. With her father, she studies the burgeoning Wall Street market’s stocks and patterns in the financial pages. After college she’s determined to parlay her talent for the prediction game into personal and professional success. But in the 1920s, in a Lower East Side tenement, opportunities for women don’t just come knocking. Bea will have to create them.
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I WISH IT WAS THE BOOK DESCRIBED IN THE SYNOPSIS
- By Bradley on 02-15-25
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The Return of Ellie Black
- By: Emiko Jean
- Narrated by: Mizuo Peck, Tessa Albertson, Nicole Lewis, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State. But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers.
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BUCKLE UP!
- By Maryanne T. on 06-04-24
By: Emiko Jean
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Mr. Jimmy from Around the Way
- By: Jeffrey Blount
- Narrated by: Earl Sewell
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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James Henry Ferguson doesn't belong here. After a highly publicized fall from grace, James attempts to flee from the chaos in his life. He ends up in a community he had never heard of before, one that has been neglected and ignored by everyone in rural Ham, Mississippi. A place of abject poverty, the neighborhood is commonly referred to as "Around the Way." Within a place forgotten by the rest of the world, politics can be a dangerous game.
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The power of sharing
- By Connie Gallant on 02-24-25
By: Jeffrey Blount
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The Empress of Cooke County
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Bass Parman
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Thirty-eight-year-old Posey Jarvis is the self-appointed “empress” of rural Spark in Cooke County, Tennessee. She spends her days following every word about her idol and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her stalwart husband Vern, and struggling to control her newly defiant daughter Callie Jane—all while sneaking nips of gin. When Posey unexpectedly inherits a derelict mansion from her quirky old aunt Milbrey, she finagles her way into hosting her high school’s twentieth reunion there.
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Southern small town charm
- By Britain Singleton on 10-15-24
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Husbands & Lovers
- A Novel
- By: Beatriz Williams
- Narrated by: Helen Laser, Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams.
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Twisty
- By Brian lambert on 07-04-24
By: Beatriz Williams
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The Bullet Swallower
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Gonzalez James
- Narrated by: Lee Osorio
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.
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timely story
- By Barbara S on 02-14-24
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Familia
- By: Lauren E. Rico
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo, Robb Moreira, Victoria Villarreal
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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As the fact checker for a popular magazine, Gabby DiMarco believes in absolute, verifiable Truths—until they throw the facts of her own life into question. The genealogy test she took as research for an article has yielded a baffling result: Gabby has a sister—one who’s been desperately trying to find her. Except, as Gabby’s beloved parents would confirm if they were still alive, that’s impossible.
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A great read
- By RSales on 02-18-24
By: Lauren E. Rico
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The Lion Women of Tehran
- By: Marjan Kamali
- Narrated by: Mozhan Navabi, Nikki Massoud
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.”
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Wonderful story Awful Narration
- By Sogol on 08-14-24
By: Marjan Kamali
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Like Mother, Like Mother
- A Novel
- By: Susan Rieger
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Detroit, 1960. Lila Pereira is two years old when her angry, abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum. Lila never sees her mother again. Three decades later, having mustered everything she has—brains, charm, talent, blond hair—Lila rises to the pinnacle of American media as the powerful, brilliant executive editor of The Washington Globe. Lila unapologetically prioritizes her career, leaving the rearing of her daughters to her generous husband, Joe. He doesn’t mind—until he does.
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BORING
- By valerie on 11-01-24
By: Susan Rieger
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The Booklover's Library
- By: Madeline Martin
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.
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excellent & historically accurate.
- By Kindle Customer on 10-19-24
By: Madeline Martin
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The Stolen Queen
- A Novel
- By: Fiona Davis
- Narrated by: Linda Jones
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. That is until an unbearable tragedy strikes. New York City, 1978: Nineteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.”
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Unrealistic characters and dialogue.
- By 406Mum on 01-28-25
By: Fiona Davis
What listeners say about The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
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- Ruth Leick
- 10-30-24
Excellent story!
I am glad I heard this story! It was emmensly enjoyable and certainly held my attention!
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- Kayla Kittleson
- 11-26-24
Excellent read/listen to
I enjoyed this story and highly recommend it. The characters are well developed and interesting.
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- Merissa Osborne
- 10-28-24
character development
What a lovely story!I enjoyed every bit of it! Thank you for your time and creativity!
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- Susan
- 12-12-24
Loved it!
This is a charming book with a pinch of history, a teaspoon of fantasy a heaping tablespoon of romance.
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- Angela
- 12-28-24
Senior adult romance is my new favorite
This book was lovely. I enjoyed the going back and forth between present day and the past. It was very well done and the characters were so full. It combined some New York history and a modern day assisted living in Florida. Great listen.
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- Rita Lynch
- 01-05-25
Nice easy listening story
Lovely story about second chances. Teaches you that long held anger is worthless and sad that so much time is lost unnecessarily, Mist often it is because of misunderstanding, Sometimes the story you are so sure you know is only half the story.
Reader is very easy to listen to and the story never drags. You will enjoy it.
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- Natalie
- 01-26-25
Listen to audible-voices add to charm of the story
Funny, heartwarming, keeps our interest-strong women mix love potion -science of pharmacy into satisfying mixture .
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- larissa
- 02-27-25
Beautiful story
I truly loved and enjoyed the story. I love the backdrop history and all of the research that I took to figure out what it was like to be a up-and-coming pharmacist back in the day as a young woman.
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- lorraine clark
- 10-17-24
Captivating!
Interesting story with realistic characters and fascinating Jewish culture. I love learning new words, and concepts.
I found myself googling terms and/or phrases to learn more about them. I always enjoy when a book captures the imagination the way this one did. I have listened to her previous book, 'The Matchmaker's gift,' many times, and I think I will be reading this one again as well. Bravo!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ofer
- 12-05-24
Amazing story!
Beautiful story! The plot was so interesting and I loved learning about Augusta as a teenager and as a 80 year old. The rich history of NYC 100 years ago really added to the plot and I loved the descriptions of Jewish food and traditions.
I just can't stop listening to the audiobook.
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