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A review by jennifermreads
Vera by Carol Edgarian
4.0
Fifteen-year-old Vera is the illegitimate daughter of Rose, a wealthy, famous madam being raised in the hand-to-mouth home of another woman & her daughter. In the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, those two worlds clash and Vera & her “sister” struggle to survive.
Prior to the quake, we meet Vera and feel her pain at wanting to be accepted, acknowledged, and loved by her mother. Instead, her rare meetings with Rose are always in the dark of night deep in Rose’s mansion. Vera’s adoptive mother makes no secret that Vera remains just so she and her daughter Pie are well kept without the mother having to lift a finger. It is a sad, painful existence. When the quake hits and Vera & Pie find themselves on their own, Vera becomes resilient. At 15, she has the behaviors and decision-making ability of someone older – but those young, naïve moments come through as well. This novel is full of aching pain, glimpses of blissful happiness, and passion to survive & succeed.
In accounts of the earthquake, the devastating fire that destroyed the city is often forgotten and goes unmentioned. Carol Edgarian does not leave that fire out of this tale and readers get a true sense of the terror the residents felt as, after the shaking “calmed” to aftershocks, they still fled as the fire raced through the city. The fire becomes extra important in Vera’s story, as she truly is, as mentioned by the author, a phoenix: she rises from the ashes and thrives.
Prior to the quake, we meet Vera and feel her pain at wanting to be accepted, acknowledged, and loved by her mother. Instead, her rare meetings with Rose are always in the dark of night deep in Rose’s mansion. Vera’s adoptive mother makes no secret that Vera remains just so she and her daughter Pie are well kept without the mother having to lift a finger. It is a sad, painful existence. When the quake hits and Vera & Pie find themselves on their own, Vera becomes resilient. At 15, she has the behaviors and decision-making ability of someone older – but those young, naïve moments come through as well. This novel is full of aching pain, glimpses of blissful happiness, and passion to survive & succeed.
In accounts of the earthquake, the devastating fire that destroyed the city is often forgotten and goes unmentioned. Carol Edgarian does not leave that fire out of this tale and readers get a true sense of the terror the residents felt as, after the shaking “calmed” to aftershocks, they still fled as the fire raced through the city. The fire becomes extra important in Vera’s story, as she truly is, as mentioned by the author, a phoenix: she rises from the ashes and thrives.