Review: The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

Publisher: Riverheard Books

Pages: 384

Format: ARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon 

Goodreads:  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 fifteen-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 twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive.




Kritters Thoughts:  A glimpse into the past and a look at New York City before the depression through two completely different eyes.  There is Cora who has been asked to be a chaperone, but this trip to New York City is more than the task at hand, it will take her back in time to a past that she has been trying to figure out.  Louise is a young ingenue who wants to become a celebrity in theatre and film, her big break takes her from Wichita, Kansas to New York City.  


I absolutely adored being able to see the change in times in both of these women's eyes.  Although the book is told through Cora's eyes, the reader is given enough information to understand what Louise is thinking with how the world is evolving around her.  The change in hemline is more than a fashion trend, it is also a change in the culture of women and how they will perceive themselves differently.  I loved the strong female characters who were trying to figure out how they would fit within the changing times.  


A historical fiction that didn't feel dated, which is my kind of read!  I would recommend this book to the reader who is a little weary about historical fiction, an entertaining story that could take place at anytime.


Rating:  definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.