The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Which of the two medical traditions discussed in the novel would you be more likely to trust? What do you think of Augusta’s work in the Epilogue?

2. Have you had an experience where your interpretation of an event turned out to be quite different from what actually happened? What led you to initially misinterpret the situation?

3. Do you agree with Augusta’s decision to use the elixir on Irving either in the past or present timelines?

4. Accidental events completely change the course of Augusta and Irving’s lives. Are there similar moments in your life that influenced your trajectory? Likewise, are there aspects about your environment as a child or young adult that permanently shaped you?

5. Esther observes that the male healer in her village was respected as the apothecary, while she was regarded as the witch. Do you know of any personal examples of women being discriminated against professionally?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. How is the novel’s plot shaped by the gangster culture in Prohibition-era Brooklyn?

2. Discuss what the Jewish community in Brownsville in the 1920s and the community of Rallentando Springs in 1987 have in common, and how they are different.

3. Do you think Augusta’s questions about whether a woman can have a satisfying career and family life are relevant to the present day?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What was your experience of reading alternating chapters that focus on dual timelines? What do you think the advantages are of this structure?

2. How would you describe Augusta’s character arc in the novel? How does she change as a character?

3. What do you make of the opposition that is posited between Western pharmaceutical science, which is based on formulas and precision, and Esther’s herbal traditions, which seem more intuitive and sometimes magical? What do you think Solomon’s distrust is meant to show?

4. Discuss the ways in which the various major characters are healed within the novel.

5. What power does the mortar have as a symbol? What did it represent for you, and how do you think it worked?

6. Discuss how Augusta’s friendships and relationships with women nurture and strengthen her. In what ways do these relationships, and the lessons Augusta learns from them, speak to the larger theme about the heritage of female knowledge?