
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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- 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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Another WW2 book
- By Cathyst on 05-02-25
By: Adriana Allegri
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We Would Never
- By: Tova Mirvis
- Narrated by: Rachel F. Hirsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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No one appears more surprised than Hailey Gelman when she comes under suspicion for the murder of her soon-to-be ex-husband Jonah. Hailey—nicknamed Sunshine by her mother for her bright outlook and ever-present smile—has always tried to do what is expected of her and is regarded as the family peacemaker. But is anyone, including Hailey, who she has always seemed to be? The months leading up to Jonah’s death have been fraught, including a bitter separation and a messy custody battle over their young daughter, Maya.
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Annoying characters
- By Sylvia on 04-10-25
By: Tova Mirvis
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The Puzzle Box
- A Novel
- By: Danielle Trussoni
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Family Family
- A Novel
- By: Laurie Frankel
- Narrated by: Laurie Frankel, Patti Murin
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero. Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do—she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie.
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Interesting story but horrible language
- By Jed on 01-26-24
By: Laurie Frankel
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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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Real Americans
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Khong
- Narrated by: Louisa Zhu, Eric Yang, Eunice Wong
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.
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STELLAR STORYTELLING
- By Brenda C. on 05-02-24
By: Rachel Khong
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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 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 Berlin Letters
- A Cold War Novel
- By: Katherine Reay
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Ann Marie Gideon, P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she's expected to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments--especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s--Luisa's work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II. When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather's work, her father's identity, and why she has never progressed.
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Don't be fooled
- By TdelaT on 03-09-24
By: Katherine Reay
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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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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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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
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How to Age Disgracefully
- A Novel
- By: Clare Pooley
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lydia takes a job running the Senior Citizens’ Social Club three afternoons a week, she assumes she’ll be spending her time drinking tea and playing gentle games of cards. The members of the Social Club, however, are not at all what Lydia was expecting. From Art, a failed actor turned kleptomaniac to Daphne, who has been hiding from her dark past for decades to Ruby, a Banksy-style knitter who gets revenge in yarn, these seniors look deceptively benign—but when age makes you invisible, secrets are so much easier to hide.
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Aging imperfections
- By Susan Love on 08-07-24
By: Clare Pooley
What listeners say about The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Susan Carson
- 05-02-25
Great story
I loved the attitude changes of young Goldie to 80 year old Augustus and the story of her life and history of her and Irving. Lovely. Great narrator.
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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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- 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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- Andrea Finard
- 04-23-25
The ethnic charm
I liked hearing about growing up in Brooklyn because I too was born there. I loved the characters of Goldie and Irving.
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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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