The 1920s – a time of daring glamour, sobriety and propriety. Hemlines were slowly travelling north from the ankle and the popular bob was the precursor to 1995’s “Rachel” haircut.
Set in 1922, in Wichita, Kansas, we meet Cora Carlisle – a bored housewife with a dark secret. She’s been tasked with accompanying her friend’s vivacious and taxing 15-year-old daughter Louise Brooks to New York so she can attend a prestigious dance school.
Louise is a beautiful child, with perfect jet-black hair styled into a severe bob, silky skin and a gorgeous smile. Although Cora’s willingness to chaperone the troubled child to the bright lights of the Big Apple raises eyebrows, she is desperate to escape her seemingly perfect life to fi nd out what happened to her all those years ago.
From being brought to Kansas on an orphan train from New York when she was six, to her dishonest and problemplagued marriage, Cora plunges headfirst into New York’s seedy underbelly – where speakeasies buzz and illicit adventures are the norm. Cora tries to control her audacious charge, while struggling to find what she’s looking for.
The Chaperone is truly a fantastic book. With well writtenand developed characters and a beautiful narrative, Laura Moriarty delivers an exceptional novel that balances the literary and historical fiction genres perfectly. To transport a well-known historical figure into a work of fiction takes some skill, but Laura tells the story of famous silent film actress Louise Brooks wonderfully.
Jumping from the past to the present and onto the future, we follow both Cora and Louise’s travels through life. We see Louise reach dizzying heights on Broadway and in films, and follow Cora’s personal journey as an orphan, a mother, a wife and a mistress. The Chaperone is a book you won’t want to put down.
