The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

Augusta believes that Esther’s soup helped Irving recover. She also wonders if there might have been something that could have cured her mother and prevented her death. 

Harriet Dornbrush, the wife of a traveling shoe salesman, is distressed that she cannot have a child. She comes to Solomon, begging him to give her arsenic, and he refuses. Augusta betrays her father’s confidence to ask Aunt Esther if she can do anything to help Mrs. Dornbrush.

After the concert, Augusta and Nathaniel catch up. She tells him how she graduated from school and took over her father’s pharmacy. Then, after the store closed, she worked for various hospital pharmacies until her recent retirement. She remembers the night that Nathaniel proposed to Evie while they were all at Arcadia Gardens. Nathaniel remembers that he’d had a lot to drink that night. He invites Augusta to go swimming at the beach, but she declines.

Augusta and Esther deliver some of Esther’s soup to Mrs. Dornbrush. Mrs. Dornbrush asks Esther to help her conceive, and Esther agrees to make her more soup. She advises Mrs. Dornbrush to exchange her pretty shoes for a pair of old boots, saying this will keep away the evil eye. That night, Augusta watches as Aunt Esther prepares a remedy and listens as her aunt hums “her strange song. An entreaty. A wish. An incantation. A prayer” (95). Aunt Esther tells Augusta that she will inherit the mortar, which has been passed through the women of the family for generations. Esther was an apothecary in her home village, but some accused her of being a witch. However, Esther says that “ignorant men” think all talented, intelligent women are witches.

Irving chides Augusta for going on a date with Nathaniel Birnbaum. When Augusta asks the reasons for Irving disliking him, Irving says that Nathaniel was the reason that Irving’s life took an unpleasant turn, though he doesn’t elaborate.

Later, Augusta tells her niece, Jackie, how she is reconnecting with people she once knew. She reveals to Jackie that, all those years ago, Irving disappeared one night after a date. The next week, he was engaged to Lois Diamond and moved away. Lois was the daughter of Zip Diamond, a known mobster. Augusta recalls that, back then, everything was a racket. Her father had to be careful because, during Prohibition, mobsters would intimidate pharmacists to write false prescriptions for whiskey to supply their bootlegging operations.

On his way to high school, Irving is stopped by a gang of boys headed by Freddie Schecter, who demands Irving’s bicycle. Irving gets away, but a few weeks later, he stops Freddie and his gang from tormenting another young boy by giving Freddie his bike. He walks the boy, Sammy, home and meets his mother. The next day, Solomon presents Irving with a new bike that was delivered by Zip Diamond, Sammy’s father. Solomon warns Irving that Zip is a dangerous man. Irving is flustered when he meets Zip, who seems friendly.

Irving reflects on how Augusta, whom he thinks of as “Goldie,” is just as he remembers and how he’s thought about her every day for the past 62 years. One of the ways she influenced him was through her love of literature. She gave him a book of Robert Frost poems for his graduation. 

Later, at a community barbecue, Vera sticks close to Irving, trying to be his date. When Nathaniel asks Goldie to dance, Irving thinks back on that night at Acadia Gardens when Nathaniel ruined everything. Cutting in, Irving pushes Nathaniel, who falls into the dessert table. Augusta is furious with Irving and reminds him that her name is Augusta when he addresses her as “Goldie.”

Mrs. Dornbrush reveals that she is pregnant. Augusta is sure that Aunt Esther’s herbs are responsible, but Aunt Esther uses the metaphor of challah bread, which is braided into three or more stands, to suggest that explanations can be more complicated. When Mrs. Dornbrush tells Solomon that she believes Esther’s remedies are responsible for her pregnancy, Solomon becomes angry and accuses Esther of meddling. Esther replies that she studied her cures as long as Solomon studied his, and she says she works as hard as he does. Solomon responds that he practices a science, while she deals in spells and superstitions. He discovers that Augusta had told Esther that Mrs. Dornbrush wanted to buy arsenic from him, and he is disappointed in her, cautioning her to be wary of Esther’s unscientific methods. However, Augusta wants to believe that both approaches have their benefits.

Shirley assures Augusta that Irving is in love with her, saying his behavior at the barbecue proves it. Augusta tells Shirley how she thought that was true 62 years ago, but then Irving proposed to Lois. Augusta recalls that night at Acadia Gardens: She’d given Irving a flask of her father’s whiskey, and Nathaniel proposed to her friend Evie on the dance floor, to public applause. Remembering that time brings back memories of her Aunt Esther.

Augusta’s father no longer asks her to help in the prescription room. One day, Solomon is shaken when Augusta puts on makeup and remarks that she looks like her mother. Irving, too, is startled to see Augusta in makeup.

George asks Augusta to help him pick out a ring so he can propose to Bess. One day, a mother and daughter come to Esther, asking her to prepare a love potion to make a boy fall in love with the daughter. Augusta wonders if Esther really can do that.

Augusta goes early to the pool and finds Irving swimming laps. He calls her Augusta and doesn’t try to flirt with her. Shirley explains that Irving swims every morning. Jackie is coming to visit for Augusta’s birthday and wants to take her and some friends out to dinner.

Esther has begun teaching Augusta how to prepare some of her remedies. Bess isn’t certain if she’s ready to make a lifelong commitment to George, so Esther offers to prepare the love elixir for her. The formula, she explains, “helps the mind to see and to feel more clearly” (150).