A great read. ( )

Cora Carlisle is 36, a wife with twin sons just off to college, when she accepts a 5 week position to chaperone 15 year old Louise Brooks on a trip to NYC from Wichita, KS to study dance in 1922. Cora is a conservative unworldly matron and Louise is a wild child. This is based on a true story.

Cora takes the job to try to find out about her birth parents who left her at an orphanage as a toddler. She then became an orphan train statistic. The 5 weeks are a changing point in Cora’s life and the beginning of Louise’s journey into the film world in its early days. The last third of the book covers the rest of Cora’s life interspersed with brief interactions with Louise.

This book has an interesting connection for me in that Louise Brooks spent the last 30 years of her life in Rochester, NY where I live. Moriarty brought both women to life. Such entirely different personalities but you could easily see how each woman became who she was. Secondary male characters were essential to the plot development but a bit unrealistic at times. Still a good story. ( )

I really enjoyed. A bit of early Wichita history. KIRKUS REVIEWIn Kansas-native Moriarty?s fourth novel (While I?m Falling, 2009, etc.), she imagines the life of the actual Wichita matron who accompanied future silent film star Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922 as a favor to Brooks' parents.Although Louise Brooks was a larger-than-life personality whose memoir LuLu in Hollywood is held in high critical esteem, she?s given short shrift by Moriarty, whose interest lies in Cora Carlisle. In 1922, 36-year-old Cora faces an empty nest as her twin sons prepare for college. Her lawyer husband, Alan, 12 years her senior, is a wonderful father and a good man, but their marriage is a sexless sham. She has grudgingly accepted and kept secret his (lifelong) homosexual love affair. So Alan is in no position to stop her when she announces that she is escorting Myra Brooks? 15-year-old daughter to New York City, where the girl has enrolled in dance school. He knows Cora?s real reason for going east. She lived in a Catholic orphanage in Manhattan until she was 7, then was sent to Kansas, where she was raised by a loving farm couple. Now she yearns to learn about her parentage. Louise, precociously sexual as well as beautiful and brainy (Schopenhauer is her favorite author), is a difficult, unlikable charge, but Cora finds time in New York to seek out information. Joseph, the janitor at the orphanage, helps Cora in her research while introducing her to the passion her marriage never offered. With Louise on the road to stardom, Cora returns to Wichita with Joseph, claiming he is her brother�a charade Alan agrees to maintain. Cora seems to represent the history of women?s rights in the 20th century. An early suffragette, she applauds the end of prohibition and champions birth control and racial equality. She also gives Louise good advice during a rocky period in her career.Unlike the too-infrequently-seen Louise, the fictional characters seem less alive or important than the issues they represent.

Quite a nice read about how a young woman's life takes a turn when she decides to act as a chaperone for a teenaged girl in New York City in the summer of 1922.

Offering glimpses at life for orphan children in NYC to Hollywood starlets and homosexuals in 1920s Kansas it is full of surprises but mostly it's a nice story about nice people.

I read most this one while home sick nursing a head cold and The Chaperone proved a perfect companion. ( )

Wonderful story and great characters! This book started off slow but I'm not sure it was the fault of the book or just me because I'm not a big fan of historical fiction. But fairly early on, I got caught up in the story and then I couldn't put this book down. I really loved the way the author developed Cora (the chaperone) by placing her in a few different and difficult situations so we could understand her growth. This was one of those books that I didn't want to end. I knew nothing about the actress Louise Brooks or the orphan trains so that was something new to research too. Good fiction. ( )

I love old Hollywood and even though I've heard about Louise Brooks and have seen pictures of her didn't know much about her. Cora (Louise's Chaperone) and Louise traveled from Kansas to New York, hopefully to start her career in dance. Louise is pretty mature for a 15 year old; in fact I thought she was much older and Cora was much older than her 35 years but I guess it was the era of the book – 1920's I think. She had an ulterior motive to go to NY and her husband was aware of it too so no secrets there.

At first, I didn't find this book very good and almost decided to stop halfway through but kept going all the same just to see what happened. I'm glad I did because the last 200 pages were well-done and worth reading after all. ( )

recommended by AP English listserv

as excellent as promised ( )

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I still haven't read the blurb so I had no idea what to expect.

The author's voice and writing style made it easy for me to get into the book right away and the Cora's story held me until the very last sentence.

I don't read a lot of "chick lit" but every once in a while, a good character-driven story, free from murder and mayhem, is nice. ( )

Fictionalized account of the woman who accompanied fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks (the future silent film star) to New York in 1922. Thirty-six-year-old protagonist Cora Carlisle desires to find out more about her birth parents, after coming to Kansas on an orphan train. The plot follows their trip to New York and the subsequent events in their lives. It is based on a true story.

I liked Cora's backstory - it was nice to see an orphan treated well by her adopting family. The author inserts social issues of the time, such as Prohibition and women's suffrage, which add to the historic flavor. The primary drawback is similar to many other historical fiction books I have read. The attitudes of the people are portrayed as more contemporary than the era warrants. Cora's actions, especially pertaining to a man she meets in New York, seem out of character. I liked the idea of the book more than its execution. I understand this book was made into a movie by Masterpiece Films. ( )

Read by my reading group and enjoyed by group. We liked it enough to choose other titles by this author.
FROM AMAZON: 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 actress and an icon for her generation, a 15-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita to make it big 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 is a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip. She has no idea what she’s in for: Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous blunt bangs and black bob, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will change their lives forever.

For Cora, New York holds the promise of discovery that might prove an answer to the question at the center of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in a strange and bustling city, she embarks on her own mission. And while what she finds isn’t what she anticipated, it liberates her in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of the summer, Cora’s eyes are opened to the promise of the 20th century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive. ( )

Book club book by Beth ( )

This book was a random selection on my part, but turned out to be one of the best reads I've had this year. I had never heard of Louise Brooks who is the 15 yr old girl being chaperoned by Cora, the main character, and was surprised to discover she was a real person who became a star in the silent movie era. The book covers Cora's life from infancy to death in extreme old age. And what a life it was, stretching from the age of horse & buggy to a world where travel by plane is commonplace. The months she chaperones Louise in NY are key to the rest of her life back in Wichita, thus we see the enormous changes in American cities and society. Fascinating in so many ways.
The author has a pleasant writing style, and it is 'easy' to read. I thoroughly recommend it.
I have not yet seen the movie made from the book, but have heard mixed reviews. ( )

This is a middling book charting a woman's journey from the childhood she spent during the early years of the century in an orphanage in New York to life in Kansas with adopted parents, up to her death as an old family matron in the 1980s.

Cora's very traditional upbringing in Kansas has not prepared her for the journey she took in the 1920s as a chaperone to the 15-year-old Louise Brooks (a real character) while she started out her dancing career with the Denishawn Dance Company in New York. It is amusing to watch her develop from her uptight, corset-wearing, and very conservative into a modern woman with views ahead of her time. I chuckled at the lecture she gave her young charge about women being like candy, and men not wanting to have candy that has been unwrapped. I have heard this same disgusting analogy from some Egyptian TV personality (possibly a preacher). Consider that the character of Louise Brooks rightly sneered and laughed at this, as many of the liberated flappers of that time did, some 100 years ago, while women in this day and age are still held hostage to that type of reasoning.

The book is a bit drawn out. Some reviewers have pointed out that it had perhaps set out to tackle too many issues in one volume: Birth control, pregnancy out of wedlock, adoption and identity, gay rights, and women's liberation. That in addition to the huge historical scope of two world wars, depression era and orphan trains makes this book a bit too unwieldy for full enjoyment.

Cora starts out as a pathetic conservative character completely dependent on her distant husband, she makes a miraculous, somewhat unreasonable, recovery into a pioneer of 20th century issue. The idea is uplifting if it was not far-fetched.

The moral of the story as I understood it is that living a long and fulfilled life starts with adapting to your circumstances and making the most of them, while opening up to changes in moral standards, styles and attitudes.
( )

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. ( )

I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, although I do agree with some of the negative reviews. Yes, the main characters do not seem believable. Also, the historical facts left me with a sense that the main character was a female version of Forest Gump, with historical titbits showing up here and there. Yet, yet…

I was drawn in by the idea that between peoples’ public facades and their private lives may be an abyss. I think of myself as a milder version of the fictionalized Louise Brown, in the sense that my thoughts and believes are very much exposed, and that often I have paid the price for being vocal or outward about subjects that were “unpopular”. But I have seen and admired people that are able to walk on that very fine line where their dignity and integrity were not damaged, yet they did not expose themselves to others scrutiny, or caused a stir with their views or attitudes. Oh, yes, we do need the Louise Browns of the world to move things along. But I admire those that live their lives in quiet rectitude.

My rating is 3.5 really.
( )

Overall liked the story, some of the bigger picture,historical context stuff was a little clunky. Grew to like Cora as the book progressed,but she was pretty stodgy in the New York section. I found Louise to be totally unlikable throughout ( )

Louse Brooks is the real part of this historical fiction. Cora Carlisle as her chaperone in NYC is not. But it makes for a great story. Headed to the city for the summer so Louise can dance with the prestigious Denishaw company, Cora has her own agenda to accomplish. She had been sent west on an orphan train in her childhood, but wants to find out about her birth parents and her time at the New York home for Friendless Girls. She makes no headway with the nuns so decides to charm the handyman Joseph Schmidt - and finds a friend and later a lover. She does locate her birth mother, but the encounter is not what she expected. Chaperoning Louise is also not what she expected as the 15 year-old is a handful and a magnet for trouble. Meanwhile, Cora's society life and a long-held secret are waiting for her back in Wichita. How she reconciles who she has become in NYC with who she has been in Wichita is interesting and thoughtful if a little far-fetched. Fascinating look at the 1920s and the changing mores that represented a threat to the established norm. Apparently every age goes through this, but this book makes a case for open-mindedness and tolerance and the fact that life is never black and white. ( )

Truly excellent! The way Ms. Moriarty wove together these 2 stories is incredible. Her description of life during the early 1900's was detailed and helped me understand how life truly was for women (and men) during that time. ( )

I liked this (and I like Louise Brooks), but it needed some structure beyond Cora's lifespan. Just when I thought things were wrapping up, there was MORE! ( )

This book was so much better than the movie (as is often the case). I watched the movie on PBS because it was written by Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, but I didn't know much about it otherwise. Turns out Fellowes did a hack job on the novel which was very much more satisfying than the movie.

Louise Brooks made a name for herself as a silent film star in the 1920s but in 1922 she was just an unknown teenager from Wichita Kansas with a talent for modern dance. She was offered a place to study for the summer with the New York City dance company Denishawn but she needed a chaperone to accompany her. Cora Carlisle, who has her own reasons for wanting to go to New York City, offers to accompany her even though she doesn't really know Louise. Cora is married but her twin boys are almost adults and, at any rate, they are working away from home for the summer. So off Cora and Louise go by train from Wichita to New York City. Unbeknownst to anyone except her husband Cora was born in NYC and was raised in an orphanage there until she was put on an orphan train to the Midwest. She was lucky in that the couple that chose her were good and kind and did not take advantage of her. She was unlucky in that when she was just 17 the couple were killed in a farming accident. As she had never been formally adopted she was left out of the estate and that is how she met her husband, a lawyer who offered to represent her pro bono. Although Cora wrote to the orphanage to ask for information the nuns who ran it told her they could not divulge any information about her parents. Cora believes that once she is in NYC she will be able to access information and perhaps even find her parents. In order to do that she has to ride herd on Louise who is a wilful brat. Louise has no use for Cora but she does know that Cora could return with her to Wichita if she gives her too much trouble. And Louise really wants to stay because she loves to dance.

Cora is an interesting character and she seemed much more real in the book than she did in the film. I found a lot of the information about the fashion of the times and the limited role of most women to be some of the best parts of the book. One detail remains stuck in my mind: On the train to NYC Cora's book drops on the floor of the train carriage. Because of her corset she is unable to bend over and pick it up but Louise has disappeared and can't do it for her. Cora goes off to find Louise who is at a table in the dining car with two strange men. Cora is furious with Louise and has to give her a tongue-lashing about preserving her reputation. And then she has to ask Louise to retrieve her book for her. I had never really considered before what a constriction wearing a corset would have on a woman's movements. Thank goodness we have left those instruments of torture behind us. ( )

Very good book with a slow momentum but an interesting read nonetheless. It does a great job of teaching about the attitudes towards women and sex in the 1920s.

As an aside, the print version is wildly inconsistent with its use of spaces after commas. There were probably a hundred instances of commas followed immediately by the next letter. I found this really hard to let go. Weird,I know,but once you read a book with bad typesetting,it's distracting. ( )

I just read and discussed this for a book club meeting. Everyone, no exceptions, really enjoyed it. As an aside, many went on to watch the movie, and thought it was very well done as well.

The book is historical fiction. There are characters that actually existed, and we know of these events from other writings. Other information is made up from whole cloth, and that is o.k. The story is engrossing, is truly a story of and about women, spanning nearly all of the 20th century.

It is told in the first person of the Chaperone, looking back after a tremendous amount of time has passed. It reads like a story being told, not like events happening in real time. It seems very deliberate by the author, and I feel successful. Cora has had time to reflect upon her actions, and those of others, and we can see how this has colored her actions late in life.

Thoroughly enjoyable! ( )

I'm throwing in the towel on this one. I seem to be in the minority, but haven't been engaged once since I picked it up and never feel the urge to get back to it. A fictional account of the rise and fall of silent film star Louise Brooks might have been interesting. A fictional account of the life of a woman who was briefly her chaperone? Meh.

PBS recently telecast “The Chaperone”, a delightful fictional account of actress Louise Brooks. The production intrigued me, so I decided to read the book which explains, in detail, many scenes of the movie. Elizabeth McGovern, Norma, the Chaperone, reads the audiobook. Laura Moriarty writes a free-flowing novel with emphasis on setting and character. ( )

At first, I was frustrated by the main character's obvious judgments and considered her (Cora) to be a wallflower. But as the story went on and more was revealed about her, I fell in love with Cora's strength. She reminded me, in many ways, of my own mother. Just because a person sits silently through turbulent times and appears to be a push-over, doesn't mean they aren't forging their own path to the other side.

The one thing that was a bit bothersome for me was the large time gaps that existed throughout the last third of the book. It was as if the author was trying to manipulate this book into an epic saga. Overall, though, I really enjoyed The Chaperone and was sad to see it end. ( )