Earthquake at Dawn

This book (by Kristiana Gregory) is a fictionalized account of actual events that took place during the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906. It's based on the life of Edith Irvine, a 22-year-old photographer that was in San Francisco on that day.

The story is about Edith, her father and a maid. Her father has business to attend to in the city and he is going on that errand when the earthquake strikes. The rest of the story deals with Edith and her maid attempting to find Edith's father and having to try to survive in the aftermath of the earthquake with fires started by the earthquake and with food and water scarce.

That part itself makes and interesting story but it is made even better by a secondary theme of the story and that is the attempt on the part of San Francisco politicians to cover up the extent of the deaths and damage to the city. Cameras are banned, but Edith is able to hide her camera and equipment in a baby carriage so she is able to take a variety of photos which are reproduced in the book.

The photos are the only problem I have with the book. Granted, the book is stressing authenticity but the photos are simply too dark. It would have been much better if the publisher had allowed the photos to be lightened to reveal the details of what is being shown and then maybe adding a phrase somewhere noting that the photos had been edited to make them more suitable for viewing.

Even with that problem, though, the book is very well worth reading although some of the details of the events are somewhat gruesome and could upset some of the younger readers.