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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I read this very quickly in a time when I am having a hard time staying with a story--Covid distraction. The time setting was one I was familiar with, of course, but I have never encountered it in a book before. It is the kind of story that sent me back and forth to the internet for pictures and more information. That always makes for a good book. Some passages were so well written and thought provoking that I saved them for future reference. My only dislike was a common one that authors use. The story unwound with a good, detailed plot. Then it felt like the author had the need to wrap it up so that it wouldn't to be too long. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Where have all the good editors gone?

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.

I left my heart in San Francisco and along with it this wonderful book. "Vera" a coming-of-age story is quite a bit more than that. Vera, 15 years old, illegitimate the daughter of a bordello madam. It was arranged that Rose, the bordello's madam, would have her daughter, Vera, be raised by someone else for a monthly allowance. She sees her real mother 3 times a year and lives with another woman of Swedish descent who is widowed and has an 18 year old daughter. Both daughter and mother have fair complexions, blonde hair and blue eyes...while Vera is olive skinned, has dark eyed and dark hair. Quite different from her "adoptive mother." However, that is only on the surface, underneath there lies an ornery personality, with a smart and quick wit...she is a survivalist.

On a spring day in 1906 the earth shattered, moved and destroyed...shattered for 45 seconds in which seemed to go on forever. Rich, famous, poor...it didn't matter...the city was devastated, its inhabitants stunned. Surviving the 1906 earthquake, we find out just how resilient, and strong Vera is. While we see how like a Phoenix, the city rises from the ashes, we see what it takes for Vera to forward. In a world where not only her looks are different from those around her, it's her brains that give her the strength to survive as well as help others with their struggles.

Thrown into the mix there are famous people of that time, Caruso, the corrupt mayor Eugene Schmitz and a cast of excellent supporting characters that make this book outstanding. From the first page to the last this book was interesting and engaging. As you read the description of the quake and the shattered city, you are right there as well.

My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vera by Carol Edgarian takes place before and after the huge earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco. Vera is our young heroine who is forced to live outside of her comfort zone and take control when all is lost. She is a great main character, scrappy and smart, focused and resourceful.

Check it out:

Scrappy fifteen-year-old Vera Johnson—illegitimate daughter of Rose, the notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s ritziest bordello and ally to the city’s corrupt politicians—narrowly survives the devastating 1906 earthquake. Relying on her wit and determination, Vera and her unlikely new family of survivors navigate a world reborn in the wake of disaster.

In Vera, Carol Edgarian creates a panoramic and deeply compassionate world where notions of honor, survival, and love are tested, and grace is hard-won. Vera celebrates the bold resilience its heroine bears in the face of a disregarding mother and a colorful cohort of liars, thieves, and con artists who would manipulate the teenage girl while her righteous neighbors judge her for her low birth. A ravishing, heartbreaking, and profound affirmation of youth and a testament to a city eternally reimagining itself, Vera’s story brings to life legendary characters—tenor Enrico Caruso, indicted Mayor Eugene Schmitz and boss Abe Ruef, tabloid celebrity and fabled doyenne Alma Spreckels, as well as an unforgettable cast that includes Vera’s young lover, Bobby, protector of the city’s tribe of orphans, and three generations of a Chinese family competing and conspiring with Vera.

Vera will be published in March, pre-order it here!

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" makes the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 palpable in a way I'd never have expected. I can't recall the last novel I read that presented an event of such significance so vividly. The eye for detail is extraordinary, and the research appears impressive. The writing was fluid and fast-moving, and the story anything but predictable. A few of the character relationships and actions felt implausible to me, which is why I give it four rather than five stars, but "Vera" is definitely a worthy read, and I look forward to Carol Edgarian's next book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Scribner, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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.