The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

by Lynda Cohen Loigman

“Do you think women like us can ever have both? Can we have our work and have love? Or will we always have to choose?” Esther’s voice grew tired and faraway. “I do not know the answer,” she said. “I can only hope that this new world is kinder to women like us than the old one.”

Was this what it felt like to be with someone who truly knew you? Who knew both the best and bleakest parts of your past? Was this what it meant to have someone support you, to have a companion who pushed you to be better and braver than you ever thought you could be? Was this the magic her life had been missing?

After eighty-one years and two failed love elixirs, Augusta Stern knew exactly who she was—a woman of science like her father, an old-world healer like her aunt. She believed in medicine and in miracles. She believed in family and in love. She believed in the power of moonlight in kitchens, in the power of women, in the power of words. She believed that even on life’s darkest days, a bowl of chicken soup could offer comfort. She believed that the world still held a bit of magic for those who were patient and wise enough to wait.