The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

In The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern, the narrative alternates between Brooklyn in the 1920s and Florida in the 1980s. The historical backdrop of Prohibition significantly influences the characters’ lives, particularly in the earlier timeline.

In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect, beginning the era known as Prohibition. It prohibited the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol within the United States. The National Prohibition Act, nicknamed the Volstead Act after one of its principal supporters, outlined ways the federal government could enforce this ban on alcohol. It intended to counter alcoholism, drunkenness, and alcohol-related incidents of violence and crime.

However, loopholes existed in the laws, allowing for the circulation of alcohol under limited circumstances, such as for medicinal use or religious purposes. Also, certain beverages could be fermented at home for household use. These exceptions led to the production of unregulated alcohol, referred to as “bathtub gin” or “moonshine,” which sometimes resulted in toxic or poisonous concoctions, leading to a higher incidence of alcohol-related deaths and increased health risks. The federal government struggled to effectively police alcohol-related crimes, since passing oversight of Prohibition laws among internal departments led to an uneven application of penalties.

While Prohibition had some effect on reducing reported instances of alcohol abuse or public intoxication, it economically hindered businesses and governments that previously benefited from selling liquor and taxing sales. The beginning of the Great Depression prompted President Roosevelt to advise Congress to pass the Twenty-First Amendment, repealing the Eighteenth. The Prohibition Era ended in 1933.

Another consequence of Prohibition was the rise of illegal efforts to continue alcohol production, transportation, and sales, a practice known as bootlegging. Illegal liquor could be obtained at restaurants or clubs called speakeasies. Notably, Arnold Rothstein in New York and Al Capone in Chicago played a pivotal role in bootlegging enterprises and organized crime in this era. Gangsters who got their start in crime as bootleggers significantly influenced the criminal underworld, expanding to racketeering, gambling, and other illegal activities.

In the novel, Augusta Stern’s father owns a pharmacy in 1920s Brooklyn, situating the family within this complex sociohistorical context. In addition to smuggling liquor into the United States, a common tactic of bootleggers was to extort pharmacists into writing prescriptions for whiskey. The Stern pharmacy’s operations during Prohibition influence the characters’ experiences and decisions. Additionally, the presence of Jewish American gangsters within the narrative reflects historical realities. In the Author’s Note, Loigman describes her sources on the activities of Jewish American gangsters in New York City in the 1920s. There were several well-known figures, many of whom engaged in rivalries with one another as well as with Italian and Irish gangs. In the novel, the character Zip Diamond attempts to fix the outcome of a World Series, which parallels accusations that Arnold Rothstein did the same in 1919. Furthermore, through the character of Mitzi Diamond, the novel acknowledges the roles of women in organized crime; they were known to participate in or even head criminal organizations, like Fredericka Mandelbaum, a prominent crime boss in 19th-century New York.