The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

When it comes to heartbreak, is time the best cure?

On the cusp of her eightieth birthday, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. Without a job or children to keep her in New York, Augusta relocates to Rallentando Springs--a senior community in southern Florida featuring swimming, sunshine, and a bustling social life. But on her first day, Augusta spots a familiar face: Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father's 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 Solomon Stern--her father, the trusted owner of Stern's Pharmacy, and the undisputed neighborhood authority on treatments for every possible ailment. All that changes when Augusta's mother dies, and her great aunt Esther moves in with the family. As a healer herself, Esther cannot help but offer Solomon's customers her own advice--unconventional remedies ranging from homemade chicken soup to an array of powders and potions she concocts when no one else is watching.

As Augusta prepares to enter pharmacy college, she is torn between her loyalty to her father and her fascination with her great aunt. And while a marriage proposal from Irving seems imminent, Augusta is confused by the mixed signals he is sending. Desperate for answers, she makes the impulsive decision to use Esther's most powerful and dangerous elixir to gain the clarity she desires. But when her ill-advised plan backfires and Irving leaves town, Augusta is bereft. Disillusioned and alone, she vows to reject Esther's teachings and 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?