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?
I was so pleased to be invited to read the latest historical fiction from Lynda Cohen Loigman. I have enjoyed her previous books and expected no less from her newest.
Told on two timelines mainly from the point of view of Augusta Stern, we move back and forth from the 1920s when she was a young girl coming of age, to the 1980s when she is an elderly woman forced into retirement.
Augusta grew up in an apartment over the pharmacy that her father owned. Losing her mother to diabetes at a young age shortly before insulin treatment existed fueled her passion for pharmacology. When Great Aunt Esther moves in to help the family, Augusta develops an interest in natural cures. Esther had been known as a witch in her old village. Maybe there is some magic in the way she can sometimes cure what doctors can't.
Decades later when Augusta is pushed out of her job, she reluctantly settles in a Florida retirement community. Could it be magic or fate that the man who broke her heart 62 years ago is also a resident?
This was an enchanting story. The historical accuracy of the days when whisky required a doctor's prescription and diabetes was a death sentence lent a touch of realism.
I loved Esther and her middle-of-the-night kitchen witch escapades that Augusta's father eventually made peace with although he disapproved.
I would recommend it to any fan of historical fiction or anyone looking for a light-hearted, quick and easy read.
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