Vera

I’m a SFBay area fanatic....having lived in almost every major city...east Bay, North Bay, and South Bay.  I worked on California St. - in S.F. near Chinatown for three years.
I’ve family in Pacific Heights - friends in Nob Hill - Haight district - etc. 

San Francisco is a ‘one-of-a-kind’ city: colorful streets, the Golden Gate Bridge, Historical Victorians, Great museums, street fairs, great food, (sourdough bread, small dive restaurants with great tasting food, to fancy Michelin-starred restaurants), theater, awesome book stores,  
free outdoor music events, fog, hills, views, mild temperatures, The Pier, Chinatown, Alcatraz Island, The Ferry Building, Cable cars, Golden Gate Park, The Sea Lions at Pier 39, The Presidio, Fishermans wharf, diverse neighborhoods, Dog friendly,  Ghirardelli chocolate, Wealthy, middle class, poor, and homeless residents,  extravagant gay men, larger than life characters, The Bay to Breakers race, The Gay Pride parade, the famous Buena Vista Cafe serving up Irish Coffees, nearby Muir Woods, Sausalito, and even Goodreads. ( in the heart of the city).

A fantastic walking city, where many of my favorite authors live. 
John Steinbeck said:
“Once I knew the city very well, spent my attic days there, while others were being a lost generation in Paris, I fledged in San Francisco, climbed it’s hills, slept in its parks, worked on it docks, marched and shouted in its revolts...It had been kind to me in the days of my property and it did not resent my temporary solvency”.  

Carol Edgarian lives in San Francisco.  
When she writes about San Francisco...not only does she write about the exhilarating city - but its the way of life......the culture of the day, and contextual insights into its urban life.  
The streets of San Francisco come alive. Her descriptions are vibrantly imagined....and illuminated by warmth and delicacy of her prose.

Carol takes us to the streets - back in time - before, during, and after the 1906 earthquake: 
Wednesday, April 18th, 1906. 

We meet colorful liars, corrupt politicians, thieves, con artists, legendary historical characters, a memorable supporting cast...
and the resilient heroine: VERA JOHNSON.

When we first meet Vera, it’s her 15th birthday....1906. 
Nine days after her birthday, the world that Vera knew, would be gone.  

Vera’s birth mother, Rose, was a grande dame of the Barbary Coast (a red-light district during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries in San Francisco— which featured dance halls, concert saloons, bars, jazz clubs, variety shows, and brothels). Rose was the notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s ritziest bordello. She was also an ally to the cities correct politicians.  

Rose didn’t raise Vera.  [but Vera always wished to be with Rose].  Rose paid for a parrot, that Vera desperately wanted for her 10th birthday-  Ricky was his name. Too cute- funny bird.....( I’m a bird lover too)...so I enjoyed many of the selective tidbit side dishes in this story.

Our hearts for Vera grow and grow — from her early childhood days - into her adult days. Vera makes us laugh, charms us, ( not a vindictive bone in her body), but we ache for her too.  Her quiet ( almost hidden), loneliness and unfulfilled desires - are always there. And that’s the way that goes! 🙁

Nobody knew that Rose had a daughter. Rose paid Morie Johnson, a Swedish widow, to take care of Vera.....but often Morie kept most of the money for herself. 
Vera says:
     “I suppose I gave Morie hundreds of reasons to hit me:  my skirt was soiled, my tongue to lose, I reminded her of her last pride”. 

Morie raised two girls: 
Vera, 15, and Pie 18.  
Vera says: ( about Pie):
     “We were sisters by arrangement, not blood, and though Pie was superior in most ways, I was boss and that’s how we’d go”. 
The girls had a noble-hearted Rottweiler mix: Rogue. 
Readers will love this dog!  I sure did.  
Vera, Pie, and Morie lived close to the canneries and piers- not a fancy house or block: working class. 
Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (historical legendary socialite and philanthropist, and beauty), *Big Alma*,  lived on their street, but was famous all over town. Men were so taken with her, they used her face as the model for Victoria, a goddess of victory, on the bronze statue at stir top Union Square.   

We meet neighbors, city officials, cooks, drivers, community members, celebrities, thieves....ordinary folks, and ( the adorable animals)
...Mayor Eugene Schmitz, the sheriff and every member of the city’s Board of Supervisors were corrupt grafters—and nobody seemed to care. 
....A Mexican prostitute could be bought for 25 cents. A French whore could be bought for a dollar.  
....Tenor Enrico Caruso: Italian Opera singer, 
....Boss Abe Ruef: a lawyer and politician who was corrupt. 
....Bobby: Vera’s lover, protector of the cities tribe of orphans, three generations of a Chinese family competing and conspiring with Vera. 

The day of the quake:
...”I can say with certainty that on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, we ate roast beef and apricot jam”. 
...”The San Francisco Gas and Electric’s silo chimney split in two”.
...People were on Nob Hill fighting to keep the Fairmont from burning. 
...Photographers were taking photos. 
... soldiers were setting up rows of army-issued tents. 
...fire blazes jumped wide boulevards ( Van Ness Avenue), and was gobbling Pacific Heights. 
... Sparks hopped from roof to roof. 
...owners of mansions were given just 45 minutes to clear out, before the horn sounded and their houses exploded with their art and valuables inside. 

  My final words - thoughts - and feelings:
          With as much detail as I tried to include....there really are no spoilers. 
I stayed away from sharing the emotions and depths that must be experienced.....from each reader. 
Specifics of what happens to our characters - directly in relationship to the 1906 earthquake- I’ve kept to myself.  
Readers really need to experience this history, the imagined storytelling themselves. 
I can tell you I got really teary and sad in one part - towards the end....
And of course when I was reading about the city’s devastating catastrophe - those vivid descriptions of the earthquake - the shocking sudden emergence....I thought about COVID-19....
As Vera said:
        “How quickly we’d adapted to a shaking world, as if it had always been this way: when it was coming on— like a stomach flu, the roiling that wouldn’t stop until you were sick, sick and tired— you braced with your knees and grabbed onto something solid while glancing overhead to see what might fall”. 

This book grounded me. It’s hugely dazzling and compassionate.

This is an extraordinarily engaging novel about the great San Francisco earthquake, seen through the eyes of Vera. Vera is a tough, scrappy 15 year old when the quake comes and turns her world upside down, but she is a survivor. 

Despite having been abandoned by her mother, San Francisco’s most successful madam, it to her that Vera is drawn.  Vera figures out how to support herself and the people around her.  Her enormous  loyalty to her mother and the rag-tag bunch of people who had been devoted to her, lead the reader to an absolutely riveting story. 

Honestly, it is sometimes difficult for me to enjoy historical fiction, but I was essentially hypnotized by this book. 
Edgarian transported me back to the quake and I felt I walked through the rubble and rebuilding with Vera. 

I highly recommend this and I think that it goes so far beyond fiction that the reader can gain great knowledge about the history of San Francisco, it’s destruction and it’s rebirth. 

Thank you Netgalley for for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Vera is a lyrical book - the descriptions are fluid and build around the story of the lead strong character who is an outcast/misfit, but a survivalist. The era of the time and the place are as much part of the story as Vera herself. Simply beautiful and impossible to put down.

The resilience and survival of the characters is impeccably written to reel you into a fast-paced adventure of hope and triumph. The story is based on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that changed the course of history and many walks of life. All elements of lifestyles are represented from the poor orphans to the very wealthy. This was such a historical point and this book recreates the people and their surmountable will the bounce back. Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to step out of my usual genre and read this book.

What a gripping slice of historical fiction! You will be transported to 1906 San Francisco just before, during and aftermath of the Great San Francisco Earthquake.  The main character is Vera, a coming-of-age illegitimate young girl who yearns for her mother's love.  Vera's mother, Rose is the Madam of the red light district in San Francisco and she keeps her daughter at a cold distance., allowing only three visits a year.  San Francisco itself becomes a character in this novel. The city's and its peoples' perseverance and resilience is to be admired and is relevant today- the everlasting question of how do we overcome a disastrous event?  With colorful characters and fantastic writing of the connection between politics and the seedier parts of life, the only blemish in this story is we are left wanting more of Vera for we know she will have led an adventurous life.

A beautifully written lyrical novel.A story that drew me in from  the first pages.Vera is a character that come alive that involves you in her life and the tragedy dramas she is living through.A novel that is hard to put down had me reading late into the night.#netgalley #scribnerbooks

Vera turns 15 just days before the great San Francisco earthquake and fire. The unacknowledged daughter of a Madam, she soon finds herself needing to be mature beyond her years if she and others depending on her are to survive. A fascinating look at this city's history and what tradegy can bring out in us. Loved this book.

Vera Johnson is the resourceful fifteen-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello and ally to the city’s corrupt politicians. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—the madam’s alluring sphere, and the violent, debt ridden domestic life of the family paid to raise her. On the morning of the great 1906 San Francisco quake, Vera’s worlds collide. As the shattered city burns and looters vie with the injured, orphaned, and starving, Vera and her  sister, Pie, are cast adrift. Vera disregards societal norms and prejudices and begins to imagine a new kind of life. She collaborates with Tan, her former rival, and forges an unlikely family of survivors. 

I had never read this author, but she is an excellent writer.  It is hard to believe that this is only her third book.  I love historical fiction, and the author blends the historical event into the lives of the characters who grow and evolve throughout the book.  I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book.

Vera is 15 when the San Francisco earthquake hits. She's the daughter of one of the city's most established madames, a woman who farmed her out to a foster mother and only agrees to see the girl several times a year. Of course Vera is obsessed with her mother, who may have rejected her because she is plain and charmless, two things that are about to help her in this time of disaster.

With her foster mother killed by their collapsing house and her foster sister in shock, Vera takes the business of survival in hand while trying to find her mother, who we sadly know would not be looking for her. Vera has school friends from powerful families and people who have asked her for her plain-spoken take on political doings in town. Can she ask them for help, or will that be dangerous for her? And does she need them anyway?

Vera is one of those girls who were meant for their moment. She forms unlikely alliances, sees the big picture, takes action and longs most of all for her mother's love. We only get a few glimpses of her long life but that would be another book. "

"Vera" is a good historical read with terrific descriptions of the San Francisco earthquake. It flags in the middle but it's an excellent piece of escapist disaster fiction--things really could be worse.

Thanks to the publisher for access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader

This book. Where do I even start?
 
When I saw this book and read about it, I knew I had to read it. From page one I was drawn into Vera, it was difficult to put down. Vera is stunning, heart breaking and hauntingly beautiful story that I will not be forgetting anytime soon. 

1906, San Francisco is destroyed by earthquakes and subsequent fires. Vera Johnson is 15 and living in two different worlds, one as a common daughter and sister and another as an illegitimate child of a well known madam. As earthquakes rock the city, Vera's lives come crashing together. Determined, intelligent and scrappy Vera pulls herself up and builds an entirely new life. 

I would like to give a huge thank you to NetGalley and Scribner books for my ARCs of this wonderful book.

Vera by Carol Edgarian is available to purchase March 2, 2021!

The best historical novel that I have read in the last year.  Set in San Francisco before and after the Great Earthquake of the early 1900"s.  Led by a young resilient teenager, Vera, the story revolves around group of people who are determined to survive the aftermath of the Quake by any means necessary.  One learns that family is not always defined by blood.  The historical facts are vividly described as is the desperation of people who are faced with tremendous  struggles.  An excellent book for reading groups.

Read this book in one day.  It was a good story and I highly recommend it.
Not only was it a good story but I learned a lot about the earthquake and the writing made me feel as though I were right in the middle of it when it was happening.  Highly recommend.

San Francisco, 1906, one of the biggest earthquakes hits. Just as bad are the fires that follow. Vera and her adopted sister struggle to find their way out of that rubble that was their home. Their mother is dead, buried under a pile of bricks.
The only place Very can think of going is to her mother's house. Her real mother. Pie and Rogue the dog go with her.
Her mother is a madam who owns a house of prostitution. Vera was left in the care of other since the house was no place to raise a child. Now Vera must go to that house and hope to find Rose, her mother.
This is a story of bravery and determination. It has love, betrayal, and is about growing up. It is a great read.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake is the backdrop to the character-driven novel, Vera. Good historical fiction brings the past alive, and the author succeeded in this endeavor. I cared about the characters, and I came away with new knowledge of the quake and society in 1906 San Francisco. The novel is accessible to those new to the historical fiction genre as well as prolific hf readers. I will recommend this title to my patrons.

I am a library paraprofessional and received an advance copy from NetGalley.

𝐀𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬.

Vera makes no qualms about her blood, she is a mutt, a bastard and an almost orphan. Her mother Rose, a legendary Madam, birthed her but left the raising to a Swedish widow named Elsa. In doing so, this guarantees she will never become a hooker nor bear the stain of her mother’s sins. The earth is about to shake the ground beneath their feet and alter all their plans days after Vera’s fifteenth birthday in San Francisco 1906. With Rose’s blood running through Vera’s veins, she has two warring natures inside of her but which will win out?

Her mysterious mother Rose lives a lavish life in Pacific Heights within a great house of many rooms upon which Vera looks at with deep longing. The time she spends with her mother are rare, and all her wishes are centered on being with Rose. With Vera’s dark looks, it’s impossible to truly pass as Elsa’s daughter and Piper “Pie’s” sister. Rose’s life revolves around meeting the desires of men, in the oldest profession in the world and Vera’s father? Well, he’s not even a factor. Her loneliness is overwhelming, feeling like nothing more than “a madam’s mistake”, Rose’s great shame and yet there lies freedom in being a secret. Vera learns early in life that her mind is her greatest company, and is the very thing that will help her survive and thrive when their great city and its citizens crumble.

San Francisco and Vera could be the same entity, both inhabited by secrets, henchmen, painted ladies, sleazy politicians, and all manner of celebrity and scandal. Vera learns discernment is the name of the game early on, and works hard to earn her keep. Despite Rose’s attempts to see Vera become first class, Vera is oddly proud of what her mother has accomplished as a Madam of the brothel (off limits to her), running the best place downtown. If only she would stop sending Vera away, if only things began making sense. Rose is privy to everything happening in this fine city, from the belly crawling scum to San Francisco’s mayor, she has eyes and ears everywhere. She doesn’t suffer fools and in her own way is teaching Vera how to be strong, a survivor. Vera wants nothing more than to prove herself to her mother and by choosing to shamefully out a liar she proves even she has a price. She may never be as beautiful as her mother, but she can be smart…

There it is, she is not beautiful, a crushing truth but she will need her smarts to survive the destructive forces of the coming earthquakes of her long life.

Rose exemplifies the times and what a woman without many options resorted too. Rather than being beaten down or waiting to be rescued, she used her wits to climb out of ruin, reborn again and again. Her moves are full of calculations and ones that Vera can’t always comprehend. But there are hard lessons between want and desire she is bound to absorb. The Chinese man Tan, her mother Rose’s butler and cook is the kink in the chain, the cause of confusion and anger. Tan, her mother’s spy- the very man who, though resentful of Vera’s very existence, can sometimes be bribed into revealing secrets to her. He will play a far greater role in all their lives, despite their shared mutual hatred.

Vera is learning she isn’t as far removed from the rest of the filth as she once believed. Everything in life is a game, she learns this the night of the opera, a game she has to learn to play and this she does on the streets of the glorious city. A city that is an orchestra that the mayor controls. Just as she is chewing on thoughts of that night, the city cracks. Everything falls upon them and it is up to Vera to save both she and love-sick, heart-broken Pie. Vera has no choice but to lead the way.

Soon the city is alight with fires, the dead lay buried, and society is suddenly equal, at least in their devastation. Everyone is a target for criminals, Rose is nowhere to be found dead or alive, and Vera is motherless as always. There is no gas, no running water, no electricity, no food but some grit has entered her soul, and in Rose’s house she and Pie become squatters. No telling how long before the world will right itself, she grudgingly allows Tan into their lives again, but he isn’t alone. He has brought a beautiful girl with him. It is because of him that another usurps her place as her mother’s daughter, and it’s a crushing blow. Everything is burning, and follows suit with history. Nearly 500 city blocks destroyed in the span of 3 days. The Palace Hotel, Chinatown… everything engulfed. Vera is only 15 and full of pride, but she is about to grow up fast. How will it all end, where will this event take them all and will Vera reunite with her mother Rose? Will her mother always reside in her head, watching over her, there to impress?

Vera is first and foremost about reinvention, Rose was already planning her daughter’s future before her birth, deciding what path would be better, but never could she have predicted the forces of nature, the earth’s or her own child’s. The best laid plans and all that… nature, nurture, pride, class, love, lust, desire, all these things build a city and bring it down. Vera and the city of San Francisco are both rebuilt but each retain the memory of what the destruction cost them, regardless of how much time passes.

Yes, read it, it is engaging historical fiction.

Publication Date: March 2, 2021

Scribner

I got an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I couldn’t put this book down! The book opens nine days before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and our main character Vera’s birthday. Vera was placed in an adopted home when she was 2 and we meet her birth mom in the first few chapters, Rose. Rose is the head of a brothel. The entire book Vera is trying to figure out who she is and how she fits into Rose’s life. The entire book is from Vera’s POV and shows how the earthquake devastated the entire community and how her small area made it through. The ending made me realize I didn’t know what would happen to Vera but her ending made me smile. Highly recommend, I couldn’t finish it fast enough.

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 5/5 Characters: 4/5

A wild coming-of-age story — Vera is the daughter of the Barbary Coast’s most successful (and infamous) Madam (Rose) and is raised by a “proper” Swedish widow (Morie) who lives on that income.  At 15 Vera is a “scrawny and sharp-tongued girl” seething with a fervent desire for more: more time with her real mother, more options, more life.  And then the 1906 San Francisco quake hits.

With a cast of unforgettable characters deployed across unforgettable scenes, we follow Vera through adventures during and after the quake and resulting fire (which burned 28,000 buildings and 500 city blocks).  From Rose’s “gold house” on Lafayette Square to Chinatown to the many encampments for the suddenly homeless (400,000 people), the novel depicts the new mixtures of uppercrusters, corrupt politicians, wandering orphans, and the military with their overrun field hospitals — all adhering to their own sense of morality, loyalty, and their survival instinct.

Real life personalities Alma Spreckles, Abe Ruef, Caruso, and Mayor Eugene Schmitz (the quake occurring on the eve of his arrest on corruption charges) all play parts.  The writing is full of details such as the ingredients in Dills cough medicine (chloroform and a heroin derivative).  Completely brings to life the time and the place for a variety of characters with different backgrounds.  Could not put it down.

“Vera” is the story of a strong, well-rounded character who has you rooting for her throughout the novel. Carol Edgarian draws upon extensive research of the “big one” — the huge earthquake in San Francisco in the early 1900s. 

I knew very little about the San Francisco quake, and what little I did know was certainly not the human element that “Vera” so clearly describes. It felt as if I were living through a historical event as I read, rather than learning about it later.

Highly recommend this book of historical fiction. Thank you to @Netgalley for the early review copy.