The Chaperone
By Laura Moriarty
- Release Date: 2012-06-05
- Genre: Historical Fiction
Description
Soon to be a feature film from the creators of Downton Abbey starring Elizabeth McGovern, The Chaperone is a New York Times-bestselling novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in the 1920s and the summer that would change them both.
Only a few years before becoming a famous silent-film star and an icon of her generation, a fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita, Kansas, to study with the prestigious Denishawn School of Dancing in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone, who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle, a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip, has no idea what she’s in for. Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous black bob with blunt bangs, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will transform their lives forever.
For Cora, the city holds the promise of discovery that might answer the question at the core of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in this strange and bustling place she embarks on a mission of her own. And while what she finds isn’t what she anticipated, she is liberated in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of Cora’s relationship with Louise, her eyes are opened to the promise of the twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive.
Drawing on the rich history of the 1920s, ’30s, and beyond—from the orphan trains to Prohibition, flappers, and the onset of the Great Depression to the burgeoning movement for equal rights and new opportunities for women—Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone illustrates how rapidly everything, from fashion and hemlines to values and attitudes, was changing at this time and what a vast difference it all made for Louise Brooks, Cora Carlisle, and others like them.
Reviews
Fun Historical Read
5By RefrigeratorChefThis book is enchanting from start to finish!Life in reality
5By ThankfulpaulaA great story about a life that is traumatized yet she turned into a beautiful woman who lived and lived in spite of many twists and turns that could have ended tragically. Couldn’t put it down.Superb
5By Laura M FosterUplifting, fast read and informational. Can’t help but fall on love w Cora for her compassion, open-mindedness, kindness and emotional intelligence.The Chaperone
5By r u nauts?I felt this was one of the best books I have read.The Chaperone
5By BGuthrie128Three generations in my family have read and enjoyed The Chaperone! I highly recommend it!Loved it!
5By Cape mistyWell written, couldn't put it down!Surprising.
4By GABRIELA VEGAI read this as a book club selection and found myself unable to put it down. Though some of the flash-forwards and flashbacks seem a little forced, the quality is nonetheless very good. Overall, this is one of the better books I have read in a long while.Excellent
5By EgshoreFantastic read! Well written and intriguing.Interesting
4By BamedicAmazing what women had to go through. A good read.Beautiful story with a heroine
5By MommykateiphoneI really appreciate good fictional writing with love stories. The lives that intertwine are all interesting. This is a definite good read! Way to go to the author:).