Missed opportunities, mistakes and misunderstandings all combine with marvelous characters, interesting historical context and a bit of magic to create a novel that takes us from 1922 to 1987, through the eyes of our two protagonists.

Augusta Stern grew up in New York, has worked there her whole life, and has no desire to leave her job as a hospital pharmacist. But the doctored paperwork that shows her as 70 years old has irregularities, and the hospital administration has gently suggested that she retire. The writing is on the wall, and Augusta gracefully accepts that she no longer will have her much-loved career. Her niece, Jackie, sends her brochures about a retirement community in Florida, and she buys a condo there. Imagine her surprise and shock when, on her first day there while swimming in the community pool, she encounters her childhood best friend and boyfriend, Irving Rivkin.

From that point, the story shifts into alternating narratives set in 1987 and 1922, moving forward in time from that juncture. Fourteen-year-old Augusta works at her father Solomon's drug store, and her mother died from diabetes two years earlier. The cruel twist of fate is that just after her mother's death, the use of insulin was perfected and saved the lives of many who were diabetic. We also meet the store's new delivery boy, Irving.

Irving is everything that Augusta is not. He loves her nickname, Goldie, which she hates. While Augusta is studious, loves to read and already wants to be a pharmacist like her father, Irving is fun-loving, has a quick sense of humor, doesn't read and barely gets through school. But instead of dividing the two, these huge differences somehow work to bring them together. Irving makes Augusta smile, and he loves watching her study. She craves the attention, and like everyone else, she knows that Irving is a really good person.

"THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUSTA STERN works perfectly. The details, the history and the alternating chapters flow seamlessly together. Loigman's ability to describe people is also spot-on."

Six months after the death of Augusta's mother, Great Aunt Esther moves in with Augusta and her father. She is originally from Russia and still wears shapeless black and gray dresses, a babushka over her head and old-fashioned boots. But her cooking is delicious, and she has a way about her, a manner of seeing things that most would not notice, of knowing things that most would not or could not know. Augusta also discovers that Esther has a beautiful medicine chest filled with all manner of herbs and a brass mortar and pestle, which have been handed down for generations and is used to make potions and elixirs that heal.

This becomes a point of contention between Esther and Solomon, who believes in science and modern drugs. One winter, Irving contracts the flu. None of the doctor's prescriptions help, and nothing that Solomon has in his store can cure him. When Augusta visits Irving, he is weak and can't eat or talk. Esther makes her special chicken soup. That night, she gets out of bed and brings out her medicine chest and mortar and pestle. Augusta follows and watches as the old woman, dressed in a deep blue silk robe, with her hair falling down her back, mixes herbs. While singing a strange song, with the candles flickering behind her, she grinds them into a fine powder. She concocts a mixture that, when sprinkled on the soup that they take to Irving, seems to miraculously bring him back to life.

The soup becomes famous in their neighborhood, and Lynda Cohen Loigman does a wonderful job describing it: "So rich and flavorful, it was almost otherworldly. A single spoonful could make you swoon; a bowl was as heady as the first day of spring." In her soup were tiny homemade kreplach, meat-filled dumplings that melted on the tongue. Be warned: the repeated descriptions of Esther's cooking might cause a mad rush to the nearest deli.

Esther's knowledge of herbs and healing creams and powders has spread in their community, and she is sought after by many for whom traditional medicine has not worked. Because the family lives above the pharmacy, it gets tricky. Solomon does not approve of what Esther does, but eventually he looks the other way.

Loigman points out several times in the story how historically women who were healers were considered witches, while men who performed the same tasks and produced the same healing medications were called apothecaries. Augusta longed to be both a traditional pharmacist and an Esther-style apothecary, a healer with modern medicine who also uses the herbs and mixtures that Esther and their ancestors used to heal. Loigman's writing is beautifully poetic as she takes us into the room and we imagine the light, the mortar and pestle, the songs, and the scent of the herbs as Esther works her magic.

As Augusta and Irving mature, their relationship changes from friends to romantic partners. Augusta loves Irving, and he seems to reciprocate. But one fateful evening, as they go out on a double date with her best friend, Evie, and Evie's boyfriend, Nate, Augusta's dreams come crashing down. Tired of waiting for Irving to make his intentions clear, she does something her aunt had warned her against. She creates a special potion for Irving. And that night, after Nate spontaneously proposes to Evie, Irving disappears. She finds out weeks later that he has married Lois Diamond, the daughter of the local gangster, and moved to Chicago with the family. She doesn't speak to Irving again for over 60 years. Augusta never marries, and her life is devoted to her sister, her sister's family and her career. She always wonders how the potion might have affected (and ruined) her life.

There is much to the touching and perceptive story that cannot be shared in one review. Some of us of a certain age might remember when drug stores had soda fountains, a makeup department (I actually worked at one!) and a kind pharmacist who knew you and your family. Historically, women trust women, and so the people Esther treats are mostly women, which had been true for her mother, grandmother and past ancestors.

How Irving destroyed Augusta's ability to trust and to love is also there in painful descriptions, so their reunion brings mixed feelings to Augusta. She is attracted to him but can't forget his betrayal. Loigman leaves enough clues that we begin to suspect the real outcome of Augusta's prior machinations when she was determined to find out Irving's true feelings.

THE LOVE ELIXIR OF AUGUSTA STERN works perfectly. The details, the history and the alternating chapters flow seamlessly together. Loigman's ability to describe people is also spot-on. We can picture the other residents at the retirement community as we read their physical descriptions and are privy to their actions and words. It seems much shorter than its 300 pages both because the story is so gripping and because we care about Augusta and want to know exactly what happened that left her alone at 80 in a retirement community in Florida.

Will Augusta get her happily ever after? Can she and Irving connect after so many decades apart and so many misunderstandings between them? Does love truly conquer all? Loigman answers all these questions, but there are no spoilers here. You must read this delightful novel to find out.