Laura Moriarty (2) (1970–)

It's all Louise and Cora's fault that I stayed up reading until 1:30 AM and needed a nap as soon as I got home from work.

Louise Brooks always looked a bit mischevious to me but in this historical fiction that notion is shown to be a complete under-exaggeration, and Louise a complete pain. But for good reason.

The woman of the title, the Chaperone Cora's story is even more intensely fascinating.

Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, an orphan train, the love that didn't dare speak its name...so many show more twists and turns and you too will be up all night. Highly recommended, equal parts modern in concept and back in time. show less

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 show more 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. show less

The Chaperone – Laura Moriarty

5 stars


The story begins in 1922 as Cora Kaufman Carlisle and her friend go about their common routine of socially acceptable charity work in Wichita, Kansas. Their conversation takes in the political and social climate of the day along with the mild gossip common to well-to-do women. The scene is set. We know who Cora Carlisle is…. on the outside. The question is, why would she choose to leave her successful, well-known, lawyer husband to become chaperone show more to the 15-year-old daughter of a local social climber? Why is a trip to New York City so important to her? Why would her conventional husband allow her to go?

There is more to Cora Carlisle’s story than appears on the surface. This is a rich and layered story. Cora’s history and her character are revealed gradually in a seamless blending of past and present. In some ways this is a coming of age story, not for the adolescent Louise Brooks, but for Cora, the middle-aged mother of grown twin boys. The Louise Brooks story is woven around Cora’s as a contrast and as an historical touchstone. Cora is a person that I grew to like and admire more and more as the story progressed.

This book had a great deal to say to me. It approached many issues which are relevant in this age of face book and reality television. There’s a clear message. Louise Brooks became a scandalous public figure with every aspect of her self-destructing private life in view. Cora remained quietly private, with a socially acceptable public face. She lived her unconventional life without undo collateral damage. I’d like to shake her hand. show less

I was pleasantly surprised by The Chaperone. I picked it up for research purposes on the year of 1922, and I soon found myself engrossed by the plot and the complicated, sympathetic character of Cora. Cora is in her late 30s and in a very unhappy and imbalanced marriage when she agrees to act as a chaperone for the gifted, headstrong 15-year-old Louise Brooks who has an opportunity to attend an elite dancing school in New York City. Cora has her own motivations to go: she was sent on an show more orphan train to the Midwest as a young child, and she wants to revisit her orphanage to perhaps find out more information about her parents.

The plot develops in surprising ways. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say that Cora's eyes are opened in a major way. The summer of 1922 changes her entire life by forcing her out of her sheltered Wichita protestant existence, exposing her to people of all skin colors and origins, and causing her to redefine what the word "family" means. The scope of the novel goes beyond 1922 to show the vast repercussions of her hard-earned life lessons, and it's an incredibly rewarding experience. How her life parallels with Louise Brooks is interesting, too. Louise became a sensation in the latter years of the silent film era, only to gain more notoriety for her drunkenness and lasciviousness than her acting work. Watch her on YouTube, and you can still see the incredible charisma and beauty she embodied on the screen. show less