Book World: 'Vera' bears witness to the lives ruined by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post
March 8, 2021
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"For fifteen years I'd been waiting for a catastrophe greater than my birth," says the eponymous protagonist of Carol Edgarian's new novel "Vera." "The quake gave it to me." By "the quake" Vera means the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Vera, at 15, feels like most things revolve around her experience, including this disaster. She has a flair for the dramatic. Brought up by Swedish widow Morie (a diminutive for "mor," or mother) alongside her stepsister Pie (for Piper), Vera has always known that her biological mother is notorious brothelkeeper Madame Rose, with whom she has intermittent contact.