The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

Okay, I have to say that The Chaperone is the best book I've read in quite awhile. I love Laura Moriarty's books (she also wrote The Center of Everything, The Rest of Her Life, and While I'm Falling), and this one was her best.

The Chaperone is Cora Carlisle, who lives in Wichita, Kansas in the 1920s. She decides to chaperone the teenage Louise Brooks to New York City so she can attend dance school there. This book is historical fiction:  Louise Brooks was a real person who went on to be a silent film star. The photo on the cover of the book is a real photo of Louis Brooks.

But, back to Cora, because the book is titled The Chaperone after all. Cora is married and has two almost grown sons, who will go off to college in the fall, when she decides to take the train across the country one summer. She has her own reasons for wanting to go to New York.

I tell ya, this book is surprising but believable without being over the top. Cora turns out to be a fascinating character who is ahead of her time in small town middle America.

Book Read: The Chaperone

Author:  Laura Moriarty

ISBN:   978-1-59448-701-9