I’ve lived in California all my life and am a fourth-generation Northern Californian. The characters in my book, which is based on my family, lived through the 1906 earthquake, although it’s not central to that story. That earthquake and fire was one of the most memorable events in my beautiful home state’s history. Many books have been written about it, so I’ve decided to list my favorite novels you might not have heard of. They all include excellent descriptions of the earthquake and its aftermath, and they create strong, empathetic female characters. Enjoy!
Lots of books focus on the 1906 earthquake itself, but I like that in this one the quake is almost ancillary. The story is about a young penniless woman who comes to live with a wealthy aunt in San Francisco. She experiences betrayal, madness, and murder, then is locked away from the world. The earthquake actually frees her. She meets a journalist who offers to help her get revenge and claim what’s hers. I enjoyed the fresh take on the 1906 quake and loved the characters. The cover is gorgeous, too!
“This is a spellbinding page-turner of a book.” ―Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale.
A mesmerizing novel of dark family secrets and a young woman’s rise and revenge set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The eve of destruction. After her mother’s death, penniless May Kimble lives a lonely life until an aunt she didn’t know existed summons her to San Francisco. There she’s welcomed into the wealthy Sullivan family and their social circle.
Initially overwhelmed by the opulence of her new life, May soon senses that dark mysteries lurk in the…
After the earthquake, people had to rebuild. This one features a female architect who trained under Julia Morgan, rebuilding a luxury hotel that once belonged to her family. The tension rises she competes with a male architect to have the first finished hotel. This book is filled with great descriptions of the setting and events surrounding the quake. It is filled with people reimagining themselves and their city after tragedy and loss.
"Vividly evocative of the time and place...[Ware] deftly blends history and romance in a page-turning story."―Library Journal
Early in 1906, the ground in San Francisco shook buildings and lives from their comfortable foundations.
Amidst rubble, corruption, and deceit, two women―young architects in a city and field ruled by men―find themselves racing the clock and each other during the rebuilding of competing hotels in the City by the Bay.
Based on meticulous research, A Race to Splendor tells the story of the audacious people of one of the world's great cities rebuilding and reinventing themselves after immense human tragedy. Filled with…
The young woman in this story is fifteen on the morning of the quake. She is the illegitimate daughter of a bordello madam who is trying to live a quiet life with the family paid to raise her. The quake causes her two worlds to collide as she collaborates with a former rival to create a new life. Although Vera is young, she’s savvy and determined to care for her younger sister. I loved the glimpse this novel gave into San Francisco’s seamier side, Chinatown, and wild politics as well as the opulent side of Enrico Caruso and Alma Spreckels.
New York Times bestselling author Carol Edgarian delivers “an all-encompassing and enthralling” (Oprah Daily) novel featuring an unforgettable heroine coming of age in the aftermath of catastrophe, and her quest for love and reinvention.
Meet Vera Johnson, fifteen-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—the madam’s alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen, and scant morality, and the quiet domestic life of the family paid to raise her.
On the morning of the great quake, Vera’s worlds collide. As the city burns and looters vie…
Sophie emigrates from Ireland and answers an ad from a widower in San Francisco who wants a bride. The novel is told in first person, which is somewhat unusual for historical fiction (although my own book is done that way). This point of view gives immediacy to the horror of the earthquake, which entangles Sophie’s life with that of a pregnant girl and a woman in the Southwest, creating a web of dark secrets and lies. I enjoyed this book because it told a greater tale of women’s solidarity, and what a woman will do to protect her children.
April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake rocks San Francisco just before daybreak, igniting a devouring inferno. Lives are lost, lives are shattered, but some rise from the ashes forever changed.
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling…
Another young heroine, fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong, is the main character in this book. Determined to get out of Chinatown’s poverty, she schemes her way into an exclusive school for white girls. The earthquake destroys Mercy’s home and her school. That’s when she jumps into action to help instead of simpering with the heiresses she goes to school with. I love characters with spunk, and Mercy has that. I enjoyed the snippets of Chinese culture woven into this one, especially the superstitions, puns, and wisdom from her parents that make Mercy who she is.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Downstairs Girl comes an unforgettable story of determination set against a backdrop of devastating tragedy, perfect for fans of Code Name Verity.
Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Young Adult Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown, San Francisco in 1906, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and…
Three women. Three unprecedented dreams. Ellen learns independence when she is widowed and must lead men. Emily desires a career in a man’s field. Eva wants only a traditional family—until her husband refuses to pay for their daughter’s college education. In a time of great struggle as well as great opportunities for women, Eva VanValkenburgh is born into a family of strong pioneer women, chief among them her grandmother, Ellen VanValkenburgh, and her aunt, Emily Williams. These women are her role models as Eva grows up in Northern California at the dawn of the twentieth century.
I've always loved fiction, fantasy, and adventure stories. Growing up in the Star Wars generation, I was seven whenA New Hope was released at the theaters. Living in the hollows of West Virginia there weren’t libraries close by, and movies were a great, though seldom, treat. Suggestive material and cursing was not something that we saw in books or movies growing up in a more simple period of time. I still thoroughly enjoy many well-written, clean, books or shows. As an active member of the body of Christ, I now serve with my writing, and hope that kids of all ages can enjoy epic fantasy and adventure books from a clean and wholesome perspective.
Finding Family, Discovery, Destiny. This is what nineteen-year-old Bain Brinley is searching for.
In his homeland, far in the mountains, he stepped into what he could only describe as a time-portal and landed in a strange land known as Egypt. Then he falls through another portal during a storm, only to end up in another world known as Harilhia. Here, he soon discovers a creature he knew from home. He was back, but it wasn't Zanchier.
Can he find his family, and figure out what the Creator wanted him to do with time-travel?
Stormwalker Series Connections In Time Bain's Story Book 1
Nineteen-year-old Bain Brinley has just inadvertently stepped into a time portal and was deposited into a world like none he had ever seen before. He turned to go back through the portal and back to Zanchier to find his family, only to find the portal gone. Now, Bain must face this strange, new, world without anyone else on whom he can depend.
As he gazes out over the hot, dry, desert climate at the large pyramid shaped structures, he is unsure where to go. He is soon thrust into a strange,…
