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.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern, Lynda Cohen Loigman, author; Gabra Zackman, narrator.
In this book, based on the author’s husband’s great-grandmother, Goldie Litvin, who was born in the first decade of the 20th century, the author has presented a tender tale that proves that true love can come at any age. In the author’s comments, the reader learns that there was a real Goldie. This Goldie was indeed a trailblazer of sorts, since she really graduated as a pharmacist at a time when women did little but become secretaries, nurses, wives and mothers! In the novel, we meet the character modeled after her, and we become aware of the progress women have truly made.
In the book, we learn that sixty-two years ago, Augusta Stern, who is now a bit of a curmudgeon, was a teenager in love with Irving Rivkin. Irving worked part time in her father’s pharmacy. Augusta worked there as well. She believed that they both thought they would marry and grow old together. Instead, he broke her heart when he suddenly disappeared from her life and married Lois Diamond, an arrogant and entitled young woman that Augusta or Goldie, as Irving called her, did not even like. Her family, for whom Irving also worked part-time, was wealthy and powerful, often involved in nefarious enterprises. When Irving moved away to Chicago, he went to work for Mitzi and Zip Diamond. He never explained anything to Augusta, and in order to recover from her heartbreak, she threw herself into her work with her father in his pharmacy, and eventually, she too became a pharmacist.
Work became the be-all, end-all of her life, and she never did fall in love again. Now, in 1987, when her niece Jackie told her about a retirement community in Boca Raton, Augusta decided it was time to retire and move. She was approaching her 80th birthday. She was pleased with the move until the day she discovered that Irving Rifkin, now 82, was also a resident of Rallentando Springs. As the story of their unrequited love unfolds, Goldie learns the truth behind Irving’s disappearance. As other secrets are revealed, her own misconceptions go through a series of stages. First, she is in denial, then she is angry, then she seems to acquiesce a bit and softens. Will Goldie overcome her fears and finally move on when she learns the truth about her past? Is it possible to forgive Irving? Is it ever too late to find or rediscover true love?
I am very familiar with both Boca Raton, since I now live in Florida. Also, I, like Goldie, was also brought up in Brooklyn, during a time in which there were far fewer opportunities for women than men. My choices, like most women of Goldie’s time, were limited to nurse, secretary, teacher, or wife and mother. It was difficult for most women to find the money, the opportunity, the school, or the people who would support her desire to advance her education. In my time also, though Goldie and I are separated by decades, pharmacists or druggists, as my family called them, were like doctors. We sought their help first, when we had medical problems. They were always available and happy to help. They made the medications themselves and were on call 24/7 in the neighborhood store. I am also very familiar with the places mentioned in the book, like Brownsville, Flatbush, Betsy Head Park, Sutter Avenue and Coney Island. Jewish crime is mentioned in the book, and I was very well aware of the existence of the Jewish mob, since the daughter of a gangster lived not too far from me. Therefore, I connected with the book, even though Goldie and I lived decades apart.
Although the author seems to glorify the retirement community, I find that if they are not defined as second-home communities, but, instead are defined as the next step in life, retirement, than they more closely resemble G-d’s waiting room. Although my familiarity with Augusta’s background enhanced my pleasure reading this book, I don’t believe it is necessary. The story is delightful.