By Ande Jacobson

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang is a brilliant work of historical fiction that takes place surrounding the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The story surrounds four fictional women who come together through happenstance and trauma and become not only fast friends, but heroes during the earthquake and after. Quinn and Chang weave a fascinating tale of intrigue, murder, survival, and quite a bit of history in this one. The Prologue begins with a glimpse many years past the end of the story. Then Chapter 1 quickly rewinds to just under two weeks before the earthquake. There was a lot happening in the city just then, and the authors capture the many events coalescing in those fateful two weeks. They also capture the horror and chaos that surrounded the earthquake and its aftermath as the city burned. For those from California and especially the San Francisco Bay Area, the earthquake portion of the story is terrifying, yet the courage and tenacity shown by the protagonists is uplifting and inspirational.

The protagonists include:

• Alice Eastwood, the esteemed curator of the Botany Department at the California Academy of Sciences;
• Gemma Garland (nee Sally Gunderson), a rising opera singer in town to sing in the chorus of the Met’s traveling production of Carmen;
• Feng Suling, a young Chinese American from San Francisco’s Chinatown with a gift for embroidery that would be the envy of any fashion house;
• Reggie Reynolds (nee Nellie Doyle), an artist, Suling’s partner, and Gemma’s dear friend.

Other major players include:

• Henry Thornton, a man with a mysterious past, a love of the arts, great wealth, and countless treasures from Asia;
• George Serrano, an accompanist and musician extraordinaire at the San Francisco Opera House;
• Madam Ning, a madam running a chic brothel and Suling’s mother’s best friend who became a second mother to Suling looking out for her after her parents died;
• Michael Clarkson, a friendly cop assigned to Chinatown who becomes very helpful when tragedy strikes;
• Donaldina Cameron, a missionary who helped young women wishing to escape from servitude;
• Enrico Caruso, a very slightly fictionalized version of the real Caruso appearing in the Met’s traveling production of Carmen the night before the earthquake.

For backstory, Gemma/Sally and Reggie/Nellie had been long time friends from their days in New York. Gemma had written Reggie of her trip, and Reggie assured her that she’d have a place to stay, and they’d paint the town. Unfortunately, when Gemma arrives, Reggie is nowhere to be found, and hence begins the first mystery, one of many to come.

Gemma meets Suling getting to her lodging, though she doesn’t realize it at the time given Suling is helping deliver laundry and is dressed as a boy (it’s safer on the streets that way). When they meet again later, it’s in an entirely different context. Gemma and Alice meet upon Gemma’s arrival at her boarding house, and the beginning of a friendship starts to form. Suling and Reggie have a clandestine relationship, and over time, through a series of coincidental encounters it becomes clear that both Suling and Gemma are searching for her. Reggie’s whereabouts is eventually determined, and a major rescue ensues. Once rescued, it’s clear that the four women have a common foe, though none had realized just how dangerous he was until after the rescue. In their attempt to right some egregious wrongs, they unwittingly put themselves in deadly peril, something they barely survive, and not without some heroic actions. What happens after that is both rapid and far-reaching. The four of them, bonded through trauma, are an unlikely and unshakable team even when danger follows them halfway around the world. The story ends well, good triumphing over evil in a most dramatic way. And as so many of Quinn’s stories show, the power of women determined to make a positive difference in the world is unstoppable.

Quinn and Chang did significant research to make all the pieces fit, carefully weaving just enough historical fact into the fictional story to make it very real. Caruso really did sing in San Francisco near the time of the earthquake. There also really was an Alice Eastwood who was an extraordinary, self-taught botanist whose career spanned the globe. Her dedication to her work was not exaggerated in the story. She’s truly a bigger than life character, and her inclusion greatly enriched the story and the team.

While Reggie is a fictional character, what she stands for and accomplished is a tribute to the many female artists who lived during that time.

Gemma is a fictional character, but she too represents the many singers who sought careers in the opera. Her situation isn’t based on any single person, including the shine Caruso takes to her in their brief stage time together, though Caruso’s history suggests that situations like that occurred on more than one occasion. He had an eye for both beauty and talent.

Suling is also a fictional character, and she represents the first generation Chinese Americans of that time. Women in her position had limited options, and her skill in embroidery wasn’t unknown. It’s interesting and somewhat realistic that once she is introduced to some contacts in the fashion industry, her prospects grow significantly both in the U.S. and internationally.

The villain in the story isn’t based on a real person either, but this was the time of the robber barons. The acquisition of priceless treasures described in the story happened far too often, most of those artifacts never finding their true homes.

As for the destruction of San Francisco, some of the specific structures described such as the robber baron’s mansion weren’t historical places though structures like that were known in the city. The mansion is described as “the Octagon” because of its octagonal shape, something considered exotic and unique. Other places like the San Francisco Opera House were real and were destroyed. The entire city had to be rebuilt, not just because of the earthquake but because of the destruction caused by the fires that engulfed the city for days afterwards. The description of the lack of water to fight the fires was both ironic and real. Even though the city was surrounded by water from the ocean and the bay, the means for delivering that water failed miserably making it impossible to control the fires until they ran out of fuel. The earthquake spawned new standards for building in the area along with significant improvements in water and gas supply lines.

As for the title, it describes a priceless artifact that shouldn’t be where it is and has a sketchy history that is explored through the story.

All in all, The Phoenix Crown is a wild ride that is well worth a read.

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Reference:
The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

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