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 … 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.
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It’s impossible not to be completely drawn in by The Chaperone. Laura Moriarty has delivered the richest and realest possible heroine in Cora Carlisle, a Wichita housewife who has her mind and heart blown wide open, and steps—with uncommon courage—into the fullness of her life. What a beautiful book. I loved every page.
I loved it.
A charmer, particularly on audio. Much more than just the tale of young silent film actress Louise Brooks and her Midwestern chaperone in New York City; it unfolds across time and timelines, backward and forward, embracing universal truths as well as the specifics of the characters’ lives, mistakes, and revelations. Really enjoyed.
What a charming, mesmerizing, transporting novel! The characters are so fully realized that I felt I was right there alongside them. A beautiful clarity marks both the style and structure of The Chaperone.
I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in the world of the Jazz Age. Ms. Moriarty must have spent a great deal of time researching the time period and Louise Brooks. The author had me feeling I was there witnessing all that took place. It is far more than a story about the main character’s relationship with the young dancer. The story extends to her married life and the change that the protagonist didn’t expect to occur. The story is full of surprises and projects through many years of a chaotic life. I can’t wait for the movie to come out!
The Chaperone is the best kind of historical fiction, transporting you to another time and place, but even more importantly delivering a poignant story about people so real, you’ll miss and remember them long after you close the book.
This was one of the most completely satisfying books I’ve read in a long time. Well done.
I don’t know how to catagorize this book, but I loved it. I learned all about Louise Brooks and what happened to her after talkie pictures came into vogue, but the real story is her governess. Truly an original and fun adventure.
Good read. Would definitely recommend.
Explores the life of a famous actress of the 1920’s, Louise Brooks, from the view point of her one-time chaperone. Several twists and period enlightenments. Informative…
Historical fiction that is one of those books that I just didn’t want to end.
Interesting story with a compelling storyline. Can’t wait for the movie.
This book is well written and certainly not predictable. It has “Happily Ever After” Endings” in that the characters to a degree get what they want, and yet they made me sad because the happy endings were built on shaky foundations of deceptions that they managed to keep hidden.
Laura Moriarty’s The Chaperone was a great book in so many ways. It covers the many societal changes for the greater part of the last century in the seamless telling of the main character’s life. Through artful characterization, it was easy to follow how Cora’s beliefs and values morphed as society changed. The other cast of characters were equally interesting and made for a book which was hard to put down. I highly recommend it to others.
Wonderful and heartwarming. A woman’s journey into herself
Interesting domestic situation – a window into NYC orphanage squalor – easy read – keep me interested. I like to follow someone from 5 to 85 years old with the societal changes that occur.
Awesome historical fiction! Well written and hard to put down!
I wasn’t fully engaged until finding that both the main character, Cora, and where she lives, Wichita, Kansas, will soon be contrasted with Cora chaperoning the young, charismatic Louise Brooks as she goes to study dance in New York City. I was at first focused on Louise, and shared Cora’s concerns about her. But despite Louise’s flash, Cora is indeed the more complex and interesting character. AT no point ws I really able to predict what was to happen.
This was another great book to listen to. Elizabeth McGovern, who narrates, displayed talents I didn’t know she had
There are two main stories going on in this book and it is the less advertised story that I like best. In it, an odd group of people comes together to be a “family.” We have Cora and her husband, Alan; and then we a friend named Raymond and a brother-of-sorts named Joseph. They are not even hinted at in the book jacket, yet this is the part of the story that I truly loved and the reason I recommend this book.
I found the book very interesting. Then I saw the movie which was true to the
book.