Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

read book

The Chaperone

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 12,745 ratings · 2,217 reviews

The New York Times bestseller and the USA Today #1 Hot Fiction Pick for the summer, The Chaperone isa captivating novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922 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 leave...more

Hardcover, 371 pages

Published June 5th 2012 by Riverhead Hardcover (first published January 1st 2012)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Books of 2012

114th out of 2,641 books — 7,534 voters

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Best Books of Summer 2012

6th out of 43 books — 213 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 05, 2012 Catharine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

I can't recommend this book to any of my friends.
SPOILER ALERT: There is a bit of a spoiler in the next paragraph.
There are a couple of themes going on in this book. The first is knowing oneself. How do we know who we are? Cora, abandoned as a child, felt compelled to find her birth mother because she thought it would help her to feel complete. Louise, raised by two parents, seemed to have the background that Cora envied. The author did a good job exploring the lives and backgrounds of the two...more

like 16 likes · see review

Jan 07, 2013 Alena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked so much of this book (including Elizabeth McGovern's excellent narration), but it just went on so long. I felt like it had several false endings, places where I was finished but then it kept going.
Maybe the probelm is just that I didn't expect an epic when I began. The story covers almost 50 years of Cora's life in a great deal of detail. And while I find the 20th century interesting background, I was frustrated at Moriarty's need to touch on so many different "issues" -- Prohibit...more

like 14 likes · see review

May 02, 2012 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fiction, america, four-star-fiction

Corsets, yes. Condoms, no. Times are changing in 1922, but repressive attitudes linger. Birth control is for sleazy people. Divorce carries a permanent stigma. Homosexuals are called "sodomites," and face severe consequences if found out. The Volstead Act (Prohibition) is strongly enforced, and abstinence a virtue.

Like most people in Wichita, Cora Carlisle adheres to these conventions out of habit, and fear of being ostracized by the community. Along comes sassy little Louise Brooks. Beautiful,...more Corsets, yes. Condoms, no. Times are changing in 1922, but repressive attitudes linger. Birth control is for sleazy people. Divorce carries a permanent stigma. Homosexuals are called "sodomites," and face severe consequences if found out. The Volstead Act (Prohibition) is strongly enforced, and abstinence a virtue.

Like most people in Wichita, Cora Carlisle adheres to these conventions out of habit, and fear of being ostracized by the community. Along comes sassy little Louise Brooks. Beautiful, talented, ambitious and brazen. She's ready to take on New York City, but she's only fifteen, so Cora is sent along to make sure Louise maintains the proper decorum. The five weeks they spend together in New York help to launch Louise's career as a silent-film sensation. In more subtle and unexpected ways, the trip serves as a catalyst for changes in Cora's attitudes and lifestyle. Cora is "the chaperone," and this is her story.

Laura Moriarty writes with quiet elegance about the changes in the roles of women and societal norms. She shows not only the contrast between 36-year-old Cora and 15-year-old Louise, but also the differences between Wichita and New York City in that era. Most interesting (and distressing) to me was seeing the way people had to live a lie in the public eye in order to gain a measure of happiness in private. So many things were frowned upon, and often illegal, that people had to feign moral rectitude while taking great risks behind closed doors and curtains.

As far as I know, Cora Carlisle was not a real person, but she serves as an excellent vehicle to carry us through almost 100 years of life. A woman born in the 1880s and living into the 1980s had a lot of adjustments to make as the world changed around her. Cora isn't a particularly exciting person, but the context in which she is placed makes her interesting indeed.

The story has some flaws in pacing, crawling along in some places and fast-forwarding in others. Aside from that, it's written with confidence and subtlety by an author who knows the story she wants to tell and is determined to tell it her own way. I'm glad I went along for the ride.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

(less)

like 33 likes · see review

Jul 03, 2012 Sabrina rated it 5 of 5 stars

When one reads the name of Louise Brooks on the jacket of a book, one assumes that the book will be filled with tales of the glamorous silent movie star who went to seed too fast but remained proud and arrogant till her death. The fact that the name of the book is The Chaperone hinted to me that the story might involve Louise Brooks’ influencing her dowdy chaperone and introducing her to the big bad (beautiful) world of New York City. That makes for okay reading. Luckily for me, the book in no w...more When one reads the name of Louise Brooks on the jacket of a book, one assumes that the book will be filled with tales of the glamorous silent movie star who went to seed too fast but remained proud and arrogant till her death. The fact that the name of the book is The Chaperone hinted to me that the story might involve Louise Brooks’ influencing her dowdy chaperone and introducing her to the big bad (beautiful) world of New York City. That makes for okay reading. Luckily for me, the book in no way took that turn. Instead it focused on the life of Cora Carlisle, a proper married lady from Wichita, who accompanies Louise on her journey to New York but really goes to find truths, freedom, and a broader mind. That’s not including all the things she didn’t count on finding…

On first meeting Cora in the book, one assumes she’s a well-bred woman of society who is happily married, enjoys ladies luncheons and teas, and has a keen eye on the world around her. With Louise being the bubbly, obnoxious, carefree teenager, it was easy to think that Cora would be the stark opposite with a spotless background. As the book progresses, we see Cora’s strengths and, more importantly, her vulnerabilities in marvellous ways. Cora came to Kansas from an orphan house in New York City with no knowledge whatsoever of her real family. Her teenage years were marked by the tragic loss of her adoptive parents and then a wedding to a rich, handsome lawyer. Their marriage, seemingly normal on the outside, had its own hidden tragedies that left me torn and confused for Cora. Moriarty never made her characters all good or all bad, there were two sides to every story and one had to keep reading to find out how they felt. Cora’s whirlwind journey in New York with Louise was only part of the book. The rest is the aftermath, both good and bad, focusing on Cora but with bits of Louise’s shooting success and equally quick and gossip-worthy failures leaking in.

The Chaperone is a moral quandary, an ache for freedom and happiness, and a need to conform to the proprieties of society. It uncovers the fact that everyone has deep secrets which drive their actions. It showcases examples of good parenting, absent parenting, and downright horrendous parenting. It portrays the differences in love and how important certain unforeseen relationships can turn out to be. Most importantly, it confronts truth and the necessity of hiding it for one’s own good. Cora’s character was equal parts practical and spontaneous. The fact that she was almost 22 years older than her charge showcases the differences in generational thinking and how both learned from each other, however reluctantly it might have been. The most beautiful part of it all is that the story is embedded in the world of Prohibition, blacks versus whites, the emergence of the Klu Klux Klan, the ‘obscenity’ of birth control, the glamour of Broadway and finally, World War II. Moriarty takes us back into the 20s, 30s, and 40s with ridiculous ease as she weaves a plot that made me loathe to put the book down for as much as a minute.(less)

like 22 likes · see review

Apr 29, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

I finished the book before I realized from GoodReads comments that Louise Brooks was a real person! Following this startling realization, I learned from Google and Wikipedia that she was quite the Hollywood star during the era of silent movies. She was the glamorous Flapper Girl of the 1920s, and starred in many movies. Her personal life was straight out of Hollywood as well; affairs with many men including Charlie Chaplin, problems with alcohol, partying with the rich and famous at William Rand...more I finished the book before I realized from GoodReads comments that Louise Brooks was a real person! Following this startling realization, I learned from Google and Wikipedia that she was quite the Hollywood star during the era of silent movies. She was the glamorous Flapper Girl of the 1920s, and starred in many movies. Her personal life was straight out of Hollywood as well; affairs with many men including Charlie Chaplin, problems with alcohol, partying with the rich and famous at William Randolph Hearst's mansion in San Simeon, and two high-profile and short-lived marriages to millionaires, even the desire to ditch Hollywood for Europe, and the inevitable fading away due to blacklisting, issues with Paramount and uprising of younger and fresher actresses for movies with sound.

It was astonishing how similar her life could be to a present-day actress! Hollywood really hasn't changed that much in the past 90 years!

Now, for the book. I loved it. It had some great lines in it which I I have shared below.

"Cora had been pleased when the hemlines moved up to nine inches from the ankle. Some leg showed, true, but that change seemed sensible: no more skirts trailing in the mud and bringing typhoid or who knows what into the house."

"Show me a mother with that much thwarted ambition, and I'll show you a daughter born for success."

"That's what spending time with the young can do...But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up to the window of the future, and even push you through."

"The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.."

"...grateful that life is long."

The writing was great up until the last section of the book.

I took away one star because the last 50 pages were like a fire that took forever to burn itself out. It was a ridiculously drawn out epilogue that did not match the rest of the book. If I were the editor, I would have recommended the book end upon Cora's departure from New York City with Joseph and Greta followed by a 2-3 page character-by-character epilogue, and left rest of the details to the reader's imagination. (Margaret Mitchell, Reynolds Price, and Flannery O'Connor; all writers who were not afraid to let their readers' imaginations take over at the end of their books)

Does a reader honestly accept that Cora, Joseph (brother-in-public-lover-in-private), Alan (gay husband), and Raymond (gay husband's lover) all lived together happily year after year without arousing suspicion, even among their children? No one even raised an eyebrow? I just don't accept that. I know writers can create any kind of world in fiction, but that's just silly for a book that was rather realistic up to that point. Also the meandering sub plots of Cora's son serving in World War II, her grandson Walter, her active participation in legalizing contraception, Kindness House, etc. unnecessarily prolonged the book. The book took such a nosedive at this section that I seriously debated between taking away two stars versus one. However, the wonderful writing through most of the book prevailed over this one bad section, thus four stars. And one last word...Thank God Cora lived long enough to render corsets out of fashion. I know hemlines and hairstyles go up and down as the years go by, but corsets will never make a come back. Thank God we have Spanx now! (less)

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 20, 2013 JoAnne Pulcino rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, book-club-selection, historical-fiction, women-s, adult-fiction-and-e-book, audio, large-print, playaway

CHAPERONE

Laura Moriarty

A captivating and thoroughly enchanting novel of two very diverse women and their impact on each other that will affect their lives greatly.

In the summer of 1922 the stunningly beautiful fifteen year old Louise Brooks sporting her soon to be famous black bob and blunt bangs wants to leave Wichita, Kansas to study dance at the Denishawn School of Dance. Against her will, her family decides their willful, arrogant daughter cannot go without a chaperone.

Cora Carlisle a tradi...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 04, 2013 Noeleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Duh! I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't realise until towards the end of this book that Louise Brooks was a real person. So once I finished reading, I spent another hour or so looking up information on the web about Louise, old photographs, articles and videos. I love when a book directs me towards something new and interesting that I didn't know about before.

I found The Chaperone a really good page turner of a story, not a story pre-dominantly about Louise Brooks but about Cora Carlisle, Loui...more Duh! I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't realise until towards the end of this book that Louise Brooks was a real person. So once I finished reading, I spent another hour or so looking up information on the web about Louise, old photographs, articles and videos. I love when a book directs me towards something new and interesting that I didn't know about before.

I found The Chaperone a really good page turner of a story, not a story pre-dominantly about Louise Brooks but about Cora Carlisle, Louise's chaperone for a few weeks in New York. I really loved Cora's story and her character. Her tale and experience was both sad and encouraging. What a strong character she turned out to be, although I did find that at thirty-six she acted and behaved years older than her age, I guess this was a sign of the times.

Louise also had a sad story although she never appeared to learn from her experience or redeem herself. I couldn't help but be reminded of some young famous actors and actresses today and how we see them splattered in a bad light, across the pages of magazines, as a result of their behaviour. I guess fame and fortune will always have its price and some will never learn to appreciate the opportunity they have been given, no matter whether it's in the 1920's or in the present day. Whilst Louise's behaviour shocked for the times she lived in, similar behaviour appears to be the norm in today's society and we appear to have grown to just accept it and take it for granted. I wondered just how scandalous Louise's behaviour would actually be considered today.

Initially I thought that Cora and Louise were exact opposites of one another but upon reflection, I'm not too sure that this is the case. I think they both had a lot to learn from one another and both perhaps craved each others courage.

The Chaperone really tried to deal with so many issues which affected both men and women during this era; societal values, expectations, restrictions, behaviours and morals of the times. What a difficult time it must have been to try and live a lifestyle choice appropriate and suitable to one's own personal preferences, outside the barriers of societal norms. What a difficult time it must have been for a child on the train not knowing where they would end up.

This was a well written book with a really good story. I think perhaps the book may have tried to deal with too many issues at once. There was a lot to consider and digest but overall I think Laura Moriarty did a very good job of linking it all together.(less)

like 5 likes · see review

Mar 28, 2013 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: group-local-book-club

Favorite quote “That's what spending time with the young can do - it's the big payoff for all the pain. The young can exasperate, of course, and frighten, and condescend, and insult, and cut you with their still unrounded edges. But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up to the window of the future, and even push you through.”

********spoiler alert******
Between 1853 and 1929, more than 250,000 children rode the “Orphan Train” to new lives.

like 2 likes · see review

Jun 29, 2012 Marcia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: x2012, fiction

An outstanding story of an outstanding woman. No, not Louise Brooks, the famous silent-film star, but Cora, her chaperone on a somewhat brief but life changing trip to New York City in 1922. Cora X Kaufmann Carlisle lived well into her 90s, and along the way she changes from saying things correctly to saying the right thing and in doing so, was "grateful life could be long."

like 8 likes · see review

Apr 01, 2013 Beekman Library rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Beekman Library Book Club really enjoyed talking about some of the minor points in the novel; Lysol as birth control, orphan trains and women's corsets, were a few. This is a very well-written story. The characters were complex and the twists and turns kept us turning the pages until the very end.

like 1 like · see review

Jul 21, 2012 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kathryn by: Bookreporter

Shelves: 2012, bets-on, favorites

What a well written story. So rich with characters and so much history. I looked up Louise Brooks on-line before reading the book and the book was very true to her life. Yet, this book wasn't so much about Louise as it was about Cora. This was a fine fine book.

like 4 likes · see review

May 04, 2013 Treat Street rated it 2 of 5 stars

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I'll say that overall, the writing was of good quality and I certainly wasn't gritting my teeth through this. Honestly though, with the limited time I have for reading, I'd like to "undo" and I wish I'd read something else instead.

I felt there was a bit of "bait and switch" with the title and description of this book. Louise Brooks was barely a character...not even a supporting actress if this was a movie. Any rambunctious 15-year old could be fit into the slo...more Before I get into the nitty gritty, I'll say that overall, the writing was of good quality and I certainly wasn't gritting my teeth through this. Honestly though, with the limited time I have for reading, I'd like to "undo" and I wish I'd read something else instead.

I felt there was a bit of "bait and switch" with the title and description of this book. Louise Brooks was barely a character...not even a supporting actress if this was a movie. Any rambunctious 15-year old could be fit into the slot with no change to the novel. I find this problematic and a bit manipulative. What's a good way to spice up a dull book? I know! Throw in a famous person!

Another "character," the city of New York, is so flat I honestly wonder if the author has ever been there. I'm from an urban area but the first time I visited New York I was BLOWN AWAY. It was amazing and overwhelming and I gawked and stared–and I'd seen tons of movies that were shot there and had a good idea what to expect. Cora, from a small town in Wisconsin, gets off the train in NYC and goes about her business with very little reaction to a city that should have blown her mind.

As far as the writing, I found the pacing uneven. The author is determined to fit all of Cora's (the main character's) life into this book, which means some sections are very detailed and cover a few weeks of time, in a hundred pages, while in other cases years or decades are glossed over in a sentence. I think this book could have ended after Cora gets back from her chaperone duties in New York. I get it, I know what is going to happen, you don't have to drag me all the way to the bitter end. I felt like one of the orphans on the train she describes in the beginning, and like them I was thinking Please God let me get off!

The back of the book copy should have said something like this: "A conservative mid-western mother visits New York and discovers the answer to a nagging question she has about her past, and finds a way out of her stifling present."

I realize many people like this book and you will too if you want to read about a super uptight woman getting less uptight. I didn't! (less)

like · see review

May 03, 2013 Books-treasureortrash rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama, historical-novel, reviewed

Book Review: 2 Treasure Boxes

It’s 1922 and women have only recently received the right to vote, so when a young dancer has the opportunity to go to New York City to study her craft, she needs a chaperone. Cora Carlise, an unhappy, middle aged woman with a secret past, decides to accompany the girl. In the process she finds what she has been seeking all her life.

Ms. Moriarty has written several novels, but The Chaperone is her first book in the historical fiction genre, it is also a drama. The s...more

like · see review

May 01, 2013 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

The main character, Cora, is Louise's chaperone as Louise travels from Kansas to New York City for a dance class. Of course, Louise's dream is to be an entertainer, a star, & she rises to the top very quickly. The question in my mind after I finished this book was---which of the two influenced the other more?

At 15, one would think Louise was more impacted by the older Cora, but maybe not. Cora, a prim proper "lady," who almost choked because of her tight corset, had her eyes opened by young...more

like · see review

Apr 23, 2013 Marci rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was supposed to be a triumphant, even inspiring story. I found it neither. It was sad and cautionary to me.

I'm not recommending this to my friends unless you really want to have an imaginative glimpse into the summer that rebellious, free-thinking 15-year-old Louise Brooks went to New York. That part was written pretty well and draws you into the life of the "chaperone," Cora Carlisle, the fictional character of the title.

The pacing afterwards was extremely uneven to the point of being off...more

like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 Princess rated it 4 of 5 stars

“That's what spending time with the young can do - it's the big payoff for all the pain. The young can exasperate, of course, and frighten, and condescend, and insult, and cut you with their still unrounded edges. But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up to the window of the future, and even push you through.”

I hesitate to write very much because part of the reason why I enjoyed this book so much was the way Moriarty let the story unfold so gently. I h...more

like · see review

Mar 26, 2013 Joanne Guidoccio rated it 5 of 5 stars

Having supervised many high school dances and activities, I could easily empathize with Cora Carlisle as she tried to restrain the wild and rebellious fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks. But Cora faced an even greater challenge: she agreed to chaperone Louise for an entire month in New York City.

The two women could not be more different. While Cora’s childhood was tumultuous, she married well and led a comfortable life in Wichita, Kansas. An early “lady driver” and suffragette, she still espoused tr...more

like · see review

Mar 01, 2013 Faith rated it 5 of 5 stars

As someone who habitually reads mystery/thriller novels and the occasional historical fiction, I never would have thought to pick this book up on my own. However, I recently decided to join a book club, and this one was next on the list for discussion.

"The Chaperone" is a fictionalized account of Cora Carlisle, a neighbor of real-life silent film actress Louise Brooks, who decides to accompany Louise on her first trip to New York from her hometown of Wichita, seeking admission to a dancing schoo...more

like · see review

Feb 17, 2013 Gayle rated it 5 of 5 stars

THE CHAPERONE by Laura Moriarty gets a solid five stars from me.

This book is historical fiction. I'd never heard of the silver screen star Louise Brooks, but after reading this, I find myself wanting to learn more about Louise and to read her memoir.

About this book:

As a child Cora was one of many children who went by orphan train from New York to the mid west, hoping for a family of her own.
She was adopted by a nice couple who loved and nurtured her.

As a young woman she met and married Alan, han...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 16, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

The New York Times bestseller and the USA Today #1 Hot Fiction Pick for the summer, The Chaperone is a captivating novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922 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 acco...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 14, 2013 Amy Garvey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, 2013

A quarter of the way through The Chaperone, I was hooked on a book I had, until then, only found a pleasant enough read. And Louise Brooks, as I'm sure the author intended, wasn't what I was interested in.

Not that Louise isn't interesting, of course. Moriarty writes her so convincingly -- smarter than most girls, as damaged as many, buoyed by unique beauty and talent, Louise is also a completely typical snotty teenager. Her contempt for Cora -- thirty-six-year-old corset- and sensible-shoe-wear...more

like · see review

Jan 14, 2013 Agatha rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Yuck. Would not recommend this book at all. I would put this book in the category of “I wasted my time [reading it] so you do not have to.” LOL.

This book is loosely historical fiction, but then has modern sensitivities and opinions inserted, like a bait and switch, or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or any other sort of metaphor or imagery along these lines you may care to use. It purports to be about Louse Brooks (the silent screen star of the 1920s) and her trip to NYC from Kansas City, and how h...more

like 6 likes · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Lisa Walker rated it 3 of 5 stars

I must admit that I picked this book up under a misapprehension. I had wanted to read something from the Australian Moriartys – Jaclyn, Liane and Nicola – who are like our version of the Bronte sisters. Laura Moriarty, however, is an American author.
The Chaperone is Laura Moriarty’s fourth book. Set in the 1920s, its plot draws on many of the issues of the time. Racism, hair bobbing, feminism, prohibition, homosexuality – it ticks all the boxes.
The protagonist of The Chaperone is Cora, who acc...more I must admit that I picked this book up under a misapprehension. I had wanted to read something from the Australian Moriartys – Jaclyn, Liane and Nicola – who are like our version of the Bronte sisters. Laura Moriarty, however, is an American author.
The Chaperone is Laura Moriarty’s fourth book. Set in the 1920s, its plot draws on many of the issues of the time. Racism, hair bobbing, feminism, prohibition, homosexuality – it ticks all the boxes.
The protagonist of The Chaperone is Cora, who accompanies the soon-to-be-famous silent movie star Louise Brooks on a trip to New York. Louise has been invited to undertake dance classes with a prestigious dance troupe. The story is inspired by a real episode in the life of Louise Brooks.
Cora was brought up in an orphanage and farmed out to a family in rural Kansas. The trip to New York offers her an opportunity to investigate her past. While on the surface it seems that her charge, Louise, has it all – looks, talent, a rich and doting family – we soon learn that in some ways Cora has been luckier in her life.
As a result of her interactions with the tempestuous and immoral Louise, Cora starts to examine her own attitudes and beliefs. In a metaphor for the contrast between the two, Cora insists on wearing a stifling corset, while Louise sometimes goes without any underwear at all! Descriptions of Cora’s corset had me wincing, ‘The gnaw from the inside or the squeeze from the outside. Which was worse? She knew she was tired of hunger. That was what she knew.’
Fifteen-year-old Louise is quite a handful. She flirts with every man she meets and sneers at Cora’s old-fashioned values. Tricked by Louise, Cora is shocked to find herself part of a racially integrated audience at the all-black musical ‘Shuffle Along.’ In later years, however, she reflects back on this moment with pride.
I enjoyed learning more about Louise Brooks – whose face was instantly familiar to me on the cover, but about whom I knew little else. She is a lively character and I would have enjoyed following her journey a little more.
I found the book easy and interesting reading, if a little predictable. Well researched and well written, it offers a snapshot of a dramatic time in American history. Maybe I’ll get to the other Moriartys next time.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Dec 17, 2012 Jacqie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Basic plot: in 1922,a Wichita 36 year old mother of boys just out of the house agrees to chaperone a 15 year old girl to New York City so that the girl can work with a well-known dance troupe there.

Most authors would have used the 15 year old as their focus and made it a coming of age story. Instead, the focus is on 36 year old Cora, and it makes for a much better book. Cora has many secrets in her life. She's going to New York to see if she can find out information about her family, since she'...more Basic plot: in 1922,a Wichita 36 year old mother of boys just out of the house agrees to chaperone a 15 year old girl to New York City so that the girl can work with a well-known dance troupe there.

Most authors would have used the 15 year old as their focus and made it a coming of age story. Instead, the focus is on 36 year old Cora, and it makes for a much better book. Cora has many secrets in her life. She's going to New York to see if she can find out information about her family, since she's an orphan. There's a fair amount of backstory to read, but it was easy for me to sink into the description of early 20th century history: the impoverished orphanage, life on a farm while feeling like an outsider in the community, an early marriage. Cora feels very alone, since there is so much she feels she has to hide in order to be accepted. She externalizes this into taking her job as the morality police for her young charge very seriously. If the author hadn't done such a good job of making Cora sympathetic earlier in the book, I would have really disliked her uptight ways and the blinders that she wears about what this teenaged girl has experienced.

All the characters in this book are nuanced. Everyone has their secrets, their bitterness, their own pain. What I enjoyed was that there was growth toward greater acceptance and compassion from every important character. And it was women's relationships that played the greatest part in this book. The complexities of mother-daughter relationships and the resentments, longing, and fear on both sides of it were examined, but the idea of maintaining friendships and affection even with imperfect women friends was also a strong theme.

This book isn't dramatic. There isn't mountain peak danger or scenery-chewing speeches. I could relate to many reactions that Cora had, as I tend to sit back and evaluate situations instead of reacting immediately to them. The slow journey toward acceptance of self, at any age, was a worth-while journey to make with this author.(less)

like · see review

Dec 15, 2012 Rosalia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, adults, historical-fiction, audiobooks

I didn't have a ton of info regarding what this book was on. One of my coworkers who rarely reads or likes adult books recommended it to me so I decided it was worth a shot, and I am so glad that I listened to it.

Clara goes to NYC with Louise Brooks in 1922 as her chaperone. Clara is trying to track down her birth mother b/c she believes it will make her feel more complete. While in NY she develops a friendship which becomes something more with a German man who works at the orphanage Clara came...more

like · see review

Nov 29, 2012 Steph rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

This book was a gift from a very dear and very wise friend, and honestly not something I would have picked up on my own. Thank God for very dear and very wise friends. This novel was captivating, inspiring, insightful and wise, all without resorting to cheap gimmicks or a preachy style, as so many modern novels tend to.

The story follows two characters: Louise Brooks and her chaperone for a summer, Cora Carlisle. At times, it can be tough to discern which character is the focus, but it is certai...more This book was a gift from a very dear and very wise friend, and honestly not something I would have picked up on my own. Thank God for very dear and very wise friends. This novel was captivating, inspiring, insightful and wise, all without resorting to cheap gimmicks or a preachy style, as so many modern novels tend to.

The story follows two characters: Louise Brooks and her chaperone for a summer, Cora Carlisle. At times, it can be tough to discern which character is the focus, but it is certainly Cora who leads the story. We follow the two women, who are on very different sides of a split in morals and styles experienced in the early 1920's, to New York City. Cora has chosen to be Louise's chaperone for the summer while Louise attends a dance school. Cora has her own motivations in self-discovery for joining Louise that are revealed throughout the story.

What captivated me most were the interactions between Cora and Louise. Moriarty is a wonderful writer without giving the impression that she is trying too hard to form her prose. Instead, it felt that the stunning writing style came naturally - nothing is forced, or hyperbolically complex, yet there is nothing simplistic or basic about the style. It is this writing style that makes the relationship between Cora and Louise stand out - we, as readers, are given the gift of witnessing these interactions as if they were actually taking place before us, like flies on the wall.

I fear I lack the ability to completely describe what makes this novel worth the read. It is effortlessly complex and intelligent. The characters are well-developed, but not over-developed. And it is historical fiction without the usual burden of learning about the era in which the story is set, because Moriarty presents everything so naturally.

It is a short novel, but certainly an impressive story. So few modern novels possess the ease of storytelling and eloquence of prose that made Fitzgerald or Steinbeck great. Yet it is precisely these names that invaded my mind as I devoured "The Chaperone." A must-read.(less)

like · see review

Nov 26, 2012 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, historical-fiction

As a disclaimer I will say I read this whole book on one long plane ride, so that may have made me like it less than I would normally. It was an exciting plot and I was never bored, however some things really bothered me:

1) I could not believe the main character at all. For one thing she went through a 180 in her personal beliefs all because of Louise and Mary O'Whatever...both of whom were obnoxious and unenjoyable. I had a REALLY hard time believing her relationship with Joseph. And why did sh...more

like 6 likes · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Corinne rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

In the early 1920s, Cora Carlisle, respectable wife and mother, leaves Wichita to chaperone the then-unknown fifteen year old Louise Brooks as she travels to New York City to study with the Denishawn School of Dance. Cora has her own reasons for wanting to be in New York and during their time in the city, Cora learns not only more about who she is but what kind of person she would like to be and what sort of life she wants to have.

I've written a really simplistic plot summary, not just...more

like · see review

Nov 02, 2012 JoAnn rated it 4 of 5 stars

One summer can change a life. For Cora Carlisle, it was the summer of 1922 when she chaperoned a young Louise Brooks in New York City.

The Chaperone is a remarkable novel not only for its sense of time and place (New York City and Kansas in the early 20th century), but for its portrayal of Cora's personal growth and development as she searches for her roots, comes to terms with a loveless marriage, and begins to forge a new outlook on life. Her initial narrowness and naivete eventually give way t...more

like 1 like · see review

Oct 19, 2012 Ricki rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful historical read this book is! I fell for the main character. Cora, the main character in this novel, paints a vivid picture of what life was like for a woman of growing up in the early 1920's and having to be socially stoic. Her story has several quirks and turns. Various issues were dealt with and shown in the perspective of the times when they were happening, as well as a lot of depth to the story.

Cora starts out as a little girl in an orphanage in New York City who was sent o...more

like 1 like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Proud of Cora	25	137	Apr 19, 2013 06:33pm
Audio-Bibliophiles: The Chaperone Discussion Thread	50	111	Apr 03, 2013 07:55am
The Indie Exchang...: Giveaway: Signed copy of The Chaperone	1	20	May 26, 2012 07:56am

combine
Other Editions (23)

More editions...

Genres

Historical Fiction

477 users

Book Club

103 users

Adult Fiction

36 users

Adult

29 users

New York

25 users

Womens Fiction > Chick Lit

21 users

Romance

18 users

Contemporary

14 users

Literary Fiction

13 users

Novels

9 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Laura Moriarty

Laura Moriarty earned a degree is social work before returning for her M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Kansas. She was the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She currenly lives with her daughter in Lawrence, Kansas, and is at work on her next novel. (from http://www.lauramoriarty.net/bio.htm)

More about Laura Moriarty...

Books by Laura Moriarty

An Avec Sampler: New Writing by Moriarty, Stroffolino, Browne, Albon, Martin, McLaughlin, Nash

Blood in the Water (Gregor Demarkian Mystery, #27)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Chaperone

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Chaperone

“The young can exasperate, of course, and frighten, and condescend, and insult, and cut you with their still unrounded edges. But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up to the window of the future, and even push you through it.” — 6 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Chaperone
avg rating	preview: The Chaperone Goodreads rating: 3.84 (12745 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13056159-the-chaperone?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355042055l/13056159.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13056159-the-chaperone?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty[/url]

The Chaperone

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website