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.