User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
If I ever wondered how long it would take for the world to end, I know: forty-five seconds.
Vera is the illegitimate daughter of Rose, madam extraordinaire of San Francisco's most notorious bordello. At fifteen years old, she is sharp and resourceful, though the one thing she wants most but never had is a mother's unconditional love. When the 1906 earthquake hits and levels the entire city, Vera will need to reach deep within and gather all her wits and courage if she is to survive.
At its heart,
Vera is a coming of age story, of a young girl thrust into an unrecognizable world, where everything she previously held dear and counted on is now no more. She must think on her feet, forge new relationships, and make impossible choices if she is to come out of it unscathed.
The writing is so sharp and vibrant. The characters, in particular Vera, come across interesting, fully-formed, and nuanced. The descriptions of San Francisco, both before and in the aftermath of the earthquake, were real and vivid, to the point where the devastated, burning landscape of the city was seared into my mind's eye. Edgarian's writing style pulled me in immediately, and I was swept away in this tale of resilience and courage.
On thing I didn't expect was the unflinching portrayal of racism against Chinese people during this time. As someone who is Chinese, I found it it really hard to read both the casual and systematic injustices they were forced to endure. I appreciated that the author didn't attempt to whitewash what happened, and instead incorporated it into the story. Even our main character Vera wasn't immune to the thinking of its time, which made her growth and her connection to Tan over time that much more satisfying to see.
This story surprised me in all the best ways. I normally don't gravitate towards character-driven, coming of age stories, thinking that they might be dull or uninteresting. But the narrative here was riveting, propelled forward by sharp writing and vividly-sketched characters facing catastrophe and making the best of it. It's the sort of book where I find myself reading sentences and paragraphs twice or thrice, just to experience them again. I honestly could not get enough.
Rating: really liked it
Finished -- "Do You Know the Way to San Francisco?"
Review to follow -- (going walking first before it reaches 103% today)
I enjoyed Carol Edgarian's novel "Three Stages of Amazement" (read it in 2011) ....only sorry I've never met this wonderful SFBay area author!
UPDATE: REVIEW
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 poverty 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.
Rating: really liked it
She’s feisty and fifteen when we first meet Vera Johnson and I liked her from the beginning. She’s the daughter of an infamous San Francisco Madame who sends her to be raised by a woman whose livelihood for her and her daughter are provided by Rose. It’s not a happy life. Vera is only allowed to see her mother on sporadic visits to Rose’s mansion in the dead of the night. Vera is tough at this young age, but we don’t get to see just how tough and smart until her mettle is really tested when the earthquake strikes in 1906. Carol Edgarian took me fully into the rubble and fire and devastation of the aftermath and into the heart of a young girl whose greatest desire is her mother’s love. There are truly amazing descriptions of the streets of San Francisco before and after, the brothels, Chinatown, the corrupt politicians of the day.
The bulk of the story takes place between 1906 and 1907. Vera’s gutsiness and strength and guile are on full display as she manages to lift herself and others out of the mess left by the earthquake and her mother. This might have been five stars, but it felt rushed at the end. It moves from a year after the earthquake to a century later with Vera filling us in on her life in between in only a few pages . I wanted to be there for more of her life, to witness her continuing resilience. This is, though, a wonderful piece of historical fiction giving a view of this horrible event, a reflection of the time and place and an unforgettable character.
I received a copy of this book from Simon & Schuster through Edelweiss.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 Vera is the daughter of a notorious Madam, but is being raised by a Swedish woman and her daughter, Piper. She knows who her mother is and a few times a year, is sent for under cover of darkness. She yearns for her mother, a mother's love, a family that is truly her own. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco will destroy much of what Vera knows, and will test the strength of the city and of Vera herself. At fifteen she will need to be clever and fearsome, if she is to survive.
I loved her character, this young girl who yearned for much but had to work hard for so little. The earthquake proved to be the great equalizer, the wealthy, the poor and the outside Chinese needed to work together to survive, rebuild. It is a good correlation to our present time when Covid had the same impact. Unlike SF though we aren't very good at working together, still divided. Vera though proves to be worthy of the title heroine. Much falls on her shoulders, herself and others survival. We read her story at fifteen and then a look into how her life turns out when she is very much older.
I enjoyed Vera and her story, this look back at a time when devastation tested the mettle of so many. A worthy read.
Rating: really liked it
It took me a little while to warm up to this story, but once the earthquake hit, I was all in. Vera is a wonderful tale of Vera, the daughter of a famous madam named Rose. Vera was a mistake, so Rose sends money regularly to Morie, an immigrant from Sweden, to raise Vera. Vera sees her natural mother for an evening visit three times a year. Vera does not feel loved by either of her mothers and struggles to find herself, a place where she belongs, and love. Though she is not pretty and lacks the usual social graces, she is whip smart, courageous, and a survivor.
The story is set in 1906 in San Francisco at the time of the horrific earthquake and subsequent fires. Having been to San Francisco many times, it was fun picturing all the many places in the city this story covered. I was also really pleased with the wealth of information the author provides on the 1906 disaster itself as well as the way of life with all the diversity (both economical and racial), corruption, and societal differences of the city at that time. The author researched this one well.
There are many colorful characters. Vera is very well developed and is surrounded by an excellent cast including Piper (“Pie”), her stepsister; Morie; Tan, Rose’s personal assistant and cook; the elusive Lifang, Tan’s daughter; Bobby, who takes a shine to Vera; Mercy, Valentine, Capability, and Sophie, all employees of Rose; and the German-born mayor Eugene Schmitz. Characterization is a highlight of this book.
There wasn’t an epilogue per se, but the last chapter served that purpose well. It was exquisitely written and put a lump in my throat. And that very last paragraph….just divine.
It pains me not to give Vera all the stars, but I must deduct one for what I felt was a slow start. I don’t see anyone else complaining about that in the many reviews I read, so don’t let that stop you from checking this one out. It’s a winner that I highly recommend.
Rating: really liked it
I had placed “Vera” on the back burner for a while because this book and “The Nature of Fragile Things” were both published within months of each other.
I’m glad that I waited as now the great earthquake was new for me again. The novel explains so many different aspects of life in San Francisco before and after the earthquake. There are great characters in this novel and they are very diverse!! What was really special about this novel was that it was also a COMING OF AGE NOVEL.
Vera is the daughter of Rose, who was the grande dame of San Francisco’s red light district.in the early 1900’s, having the fanciest bordello with music and lush rooms. Rose was notorious for her connections to the city’s politicians and elected officials. She was a force to be reckoned with!!
When she gave birth to Vera, she didn’t want a child. It was unplanned and she knows once Vera is walking that a bordello was no place to raise a child.
She hires Morie Johnson, a widow from Sweden with a child of her own to care for Vera. It is to be an ongoing arrangement. Rose pays her well but often Morie keeps a lot of the money for herself rather than for good food and clothing for Vera. Her daughter Pie, 3 years old, obviously receives kinder, fairer treatment.
Though Vera is raised by Morie there is still a connection to Rose. Every year she is taken to THE BIG HOUSE that Rose lives in atop a grand hill in San Francisco. She is treated to a feast and many gifts are exchanged. Aside from that one visit a year, Vera seldom sees her mother. She still yearns for her and SHE FEELS THAT SHE HAS A STRONG CONNECTION TO ROSE. She has searched all of her life for the one thing that she really wanted, A MOTHER’S LOVE AND CARE..
The novel is told from Vera’s point of view, beginning with her remembrance of her 15th birthday. Though the day started normally, the great earthquake will turn her life upside down. In the morning she was spending time with Pie, her “sister by arrangement not blood”. Within hours most of San Francisco was flattened and fires were taking the rest of the buildings.
Without going through the plot, as there are many surprises in this book, I can tell you that Vera not only survives but ends up thriving.
There are a host of other characters, interesting and well described. There were politicians who had been in Rose’s pocket, as well as Rose’s cook and his family, Vera’s first time love and a host of San Francisco’s most successful people: store owners, restaurant restaurateurs , police and fire officials, etc.
This was not a fast pacedI novel and I decided to try the audiobook to see if it made my experience better, IT DEFINITELY DID. Listening to the book told in Vera’s voice, made it much more of a personal story of Vera and the city she loved.
Carol Edgarian has lived in her adopted hometown of San Francisco for over 3 decades. Her love for the city and it’s history shine through the novel.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss and the audiobook from Audible.
Rating: really liked it
"The magnitutde of the thing. It was there in the eyes of our neighbors too: the wonder is having witnessed it, of having survived it. In those first hours, I never saw a soul, not even a child, cry for what had been taken."
Carol Edgarian introduces us to one feisty character: fifteen year old Vera Johnson. Now Vera comes with some baggage of her own at such a young age. She is the illegitimate daughter of a widely known madam who reigns over San Francisco life and the well-known men who slink into the bordello most evenings.
Raising a young girl inside the walls of this bordello was a challenge. Rose of The Rose found a good home for Vera with a recent immigrant and her daughter, Pie. Vera visited Rose every now and then, but Rose kept her at the edge of her lace gowns. Vera and Pie became sisters with the bond of a tight relationship.
As the story unfolds, Edgarian drifts in famous people of the time such as Enrico Caruso and even the indicted mayor, Eugene Schmitz. The solid ground that these people walked on would be shaken beyond belief on that fateful day in 1906. We can only imagine the shock of awakening to a city leveled by the massive tremors.
And in the aftermath, San Francisco is charged with the fervor of people vs. people. While neighbor tried to assist neighbor in the rubble, the widening gap of class distinction, cultures, racial tension, and the lessening role of women took a foothold in scavenging for survival. Asians, and in particular Chinese, were treated abominably. It is here that Vera steps forward and puts herself in the line of fire without flinching. The transformation from a young wayward girl to a woman of solid direction and fortitude is remarkable.
Vera is an enjoyable novel that engages the reader in a timely piece of history. We experience the folly of standing with locked arms in a sea of destruction. Hands held together in unity rebuilds mighty structures and societies. Food for thought.....
Rating: really liked it
In the wake of the of the devastating 1908 San Francisco earthquake, the bastard and virtually abandoned daughter of a prominent brothel Madam comes of age, proves her mettle and survives. Everything about this book is fine. The writing is fine, the characters are fine, and the storyline is fine. I wish it had been more and certainly more than fine.
Rating: really liked it
I don't keep many books for my personal collection, but this one is an exception. I'm not sure what it is, but so far in 2021, the thrillers I have read have all been rather mediocre, but the historical fiction books have been fantastic!
I was sold from the moment I saw the amazing cover and read the words "San Francisco earthquake" and "bordello;" but I had no idea what an incredibly moving tale of loss, love, and reinvention it would turn out to be. It is the story of Vera Johnson, the fifteen-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, who is the famous Madame of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—her mother's alluring world, into which Vera is only welcomed a few times a year, and the cold, unloving world of the foster mother paid by Rose to raise her. Vera doesn't feel loved by either "mother," although she is close with her adopted sister, Pie, despite the fact that Vera longs to be independent, while Pie wants only to marry a local shopkeeper. Vera is also seemingly despised by Rose's right-hand man, Tan, from Chinatown, who always seems to be lurking in the shadows wherever she goes.
On the day of the famous earthquake, Vera’s two worlds collide. As the shattered city burns, Vera and Pie find themselves alone and homeless. Unable to locate Rose, Vera and an unwilling Pie move into Rose's "gold house," despite the societal shame the house carries for its inhabitants. With only Tan to help, they forge an unlikely family of misfit survivors. A badly injured and disfigured Rose is eventually located and Vera becomes her caregiver, in hopes that she will finally win her mother's love. What follows is heart wrenching, powerful, and inspiring, as her hopes are dashed time and again, but she continues to persist in finding her own way.
I've read several other books about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but I must say the descriptions in this book were the most vivid and moving of any I've ever read. The Chinatown pieces were also intriguing, as I had no idea of the corruption and racism that was so prevalent during that era. There wasn't a character who didn't move me in some way, and the relationship between Vera and Bobby warmed my heart and then broke it with the same intensity. The plot took so many unexpected turns that made the story truly memorable. The only parts that lagged a bit for me were the scenes with the mayor and "Haj," but in the end, they all play a pertinent role in the plot, so I can overlook them.
All I can say is that if I ever have to endure a natural disaster, I want a Vera in my squad! Such a strong character-driven, coming of age story that I won't soon forget and can't recommend highly enough. All the stars.
Rating: really liked it
When I first noticed this book, I added to my shelves but every time I checked it again and read the description I wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not. I kept thinking about reading it though and when it was my turn in the queue at my library for the e-copy, audiobook, and paper book I decided it would be my next book.
I’m so glad that I’ve read it. I was immediately sucked in. I love the writing style and the characters, particularly Vera, and I also love books with San Francisco settings and this is a great San Francisco book.
This story packed an emotional punch for me. I was sucked in. I rooted so hard from the start for Vera. There were many other fascinating characters too and some surprised me and some didn’t but all of them were interesting and all of them and their relationships made sense.
A quote I particularly liked: “For I was indeed a student of human nature, as every orphan and hooker and unwanted kid must be.”
I appreciated the Acknowledgments section at the end. It showed the considerable amount of research that went into writing this book.
4-1/2 stars
Rating: really liked it
You had me at San Francisco and Bordello LOL
Rating: really liked it
4 Stars
Rating: really liked it
Vera Johnson has lived a long, long life and in all of her years none have proved to be as momentous, as exciting, as devastating as 1906, the year San Francisco was nearly leveled by an epic earthquake. In 1906 Vera was 15, a bastard child of SF’s most popular madam, given to and paid for a Swedish single mother to raise alongside her own child. Vera has a scant relationship with her birthmother, a potently ambitious well connected woman who for all her admirable qualities doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body. Until the earthquake rips through the city permanently altering all preexisting arrangements and Vera and her (nonbiological) sister Pie find themselves taking possession of a fancy mansion she never got to grow up in, her birthright. But the girls are not alone, they are antagonized and cared for in equal measures by her mother’s former employee Tan and his family, just as the position of Chinese people in the city gets suddenly quite precarious. There’s a love interest that slowly makes his way into the picture. There are all the terrific variegated players who slowly come to populate the place. And then there are real life characters cleverly integrated into the fabric of the plot, from politicians to socialites. All set against the backdrop of the city ravaged by nature and yet poised to make yet another comeback, to live up to its flag, to rise from the ashes. There are great many things this novel gets right the first and foremost of them being creating a genuinely excellent young protagonist in adult fiction. It isn’t often than a 15 year old can carry a story with such aplomb. It’s a bildungsroman in a way, of course, 1906 shapes Vera into a person of steel, will and drive she becomes, albeit possibly stealing away too much softness through teaching some lessons too early and too brutally. Secondly, there are some terrific descriptions of the city. I’ve recently armchair traveled to SF, but a present day version. This was a time machine armchair trip, which is almost as good as hot tub time machine and by some accounts more so, especially in the summer. The writing is good, the characters are enjoyable, it’s sad without being depressing. Not sure why I didn’t love it, though I definitely liked it a lot. A transporting sort of entertainment, Great for fans of historical fiction. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
Rating: really liked it
It's 1906 in San Francisco, right before the big earthquake. Vera, the child of bordello madam Rose, has been placed with a widow and her daughter. Her guardian is a drinker and a gambler, and is dependent on the income she receives from Rose. Everything changes after the earthquake, and Vera at age 15 proves that she is a survivor. I found the characters unlikable and somewhat lacking in depth. I did find the setting of turn of the 20th century San Francisco interesting, and recommend this novel to anyone who is also intrigued by this time period. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.
Rating: really liked it
I read approx. 70 pages (maybe more) then put it aside. It wasn't for me. I am glad so many enjoy it. I found Vera off putting and though I found the beginning plausible, it didn't bring about the intended emotions for her. I'm sure this is a case of, 'it's not the book, it's me'.
