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    Una acompañante en Nueva York: En los vertiginosos años veinte, dos mujeres muy distintas encontrarán su camino.
    Unavailable
    Una acompañante en Nueva York: En los vertiginosos años veinte, dos mujeres muy distintas encontrarán su camino.
    Unavailable
    Una acompañante en Nueva York: En los vertiginosos años veinte, dos mujeres muy distintas encontrarán su camino.
    Ebook452 pages6 hours

    Una acompañante en Nueva York: En los vertiginosos años veinte, dos mujeres muy distintas encontrarán su camino.

    By Laura Moriarty

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Inspirada por la vida de la estrella del cine mudo Louise Brooks, esta es la historia de dos mujeres que representan dos mundos opuestos, y del verano que cambió su vida. Escrita con un estilo exquisito y ambientada en una época fascinante, esta novela juega con la realidad y la ficción para crear una emocionante historia de dos mujeres que comparten los mismos deseos de libertad y realización personal. Una futura estrella del cine mudo y la mujer que la acompaña a Nueva York, en los vertiginosos años veinte. En 1922, la arrebatadora y precoz Louise Brooks, de tan solo quince años, y su acompañante, Cora Carlisle, una mujer casada muy tradicional, viajan juntas desde Witchita, Kansas, a Nueva York, la nueva metrópolis de moda. Cada una tiene sus propios motivos para hacer ese viaje: la rebelde Louise se ha inscrito en la academia de danza vanguardista Denishawn, porque sueña con llegar a ser una famosa bailarina. Una ilusión que cumplirá de largo, convirtiéndose en una conocida actriz del cine mudo y en la mujer más deseada del Hollywood de la época. Por su parte, Cora no solo busca escapar de la monotonía de su vida, sino que quiere cumplir un deseo que lleva años postergando: encontrar sus orígenes, ya que nunca ha conocido a sus padres. Obligadas a pasar juntas un verano en la fascinante y caleidoscópica ciudad de Nueva York, estas dos mujeres aprenderán a entenderse y descubrirán que la vida les tienere servadas muchas sorpresas.«Esta novela atrapará tanto a los amantes del jazz de la década de 1920, como a los lectores apasionados por las novelas históricas.» &mdash eurosLibrary Journal«Una novela intensa en la que surgen profundas cuestiones sobre la familia y la sexualidad, y la duda de si el rumbo de la vida es cuestión del destino o del libre albedrío.» &mdash eurosThe Oprah Magazine
    LanguageEspañol
    PublisherMaeva Ediciones
    Release dateMar 28, 2014
    ISBN9788415893455
    Unavailable
    Una acompañante en Nueva York: En los vertiginosos años veinte, dos mujeres muy distintas encontrarán su camino.
    Author

    Laura Moriarty

    Laura Moriarty estudió escritura creativa, asignatura que en la actualidad imparte en la Universidad de Kansas, y está licenciada en trabajo social. Sus novelas anteriores The Center of Everything, The Rest of Her Life y While I&rsquo eurosm Falling, han recibido excelentes críticas de los lectores y la crítica, y se han publicado en varios países. Una acompañante en Nueva York se ha traducido a más de diez idiomas.

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    Reviews for Una acompañante en Nueva York

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    • 3/5


      Better than 3 stars but not quite 4. "What was it Schopenhauer wrote? 'The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.'"
    • 5/5
      A great read.
    • 5/5
      OMG. Fantastic.
    • 5/5
      I first had the pleasure of reading Laura Moriarty's debut novel The Center of Everything many years ago and meeting her shortly after. What a pleasure both her novel and her friendly and open personality were. The Center of Everything was by no means perfect, but it was a very strong debut. And here was an author I could believe in, someone coming out of Kansas with real talent and genuine character.

      I followed Moriarty into her second and third novels. I hate to say it because I really liked Moriarty and I loved The Center of Everything, but The Rest of Her Life was a massive disappointment and While I'm Falling was hard to even finish. Sounds harsh? Yeah, I agree. But I've heard the same sentiments from others. I like to blame the decline in pressure from the publisher—suddenly Laura Moriarty was “the next Jodi Picoult” (which she wasn't)—but I do not know the true reason Moriarty's style changed so much. And frankly, it doesn't matter.

      I know some people gave up on the author after her second novel. Some after her third. Let me just say one thing to those who have lost their faith: Laura Moriarty is back.

      The Chaperone is a new direction for Moriarty and a refreshing change from the forgettable characters and events of her last two novels. The story is interesting. The setting is vivid. Moriarty shows great skill in blending factual events from the life of silent film star Louise Brooks with her fictional work. Brooks is a vehicle for the larger plot, but Moriarty is careful not to cross the line where the actress' inclusion becomes too convenient (this is perhaps not so much true in later chapters, but she only barely steps over the line).

      There may be disappointment for some when they realize The Chaperone isn't a novel about Louise Brooks. Even though the description on the dust jacket and the title itself should be an indication that this novel is much more the story of Moriarty's protagonist, Cora Carlisle, it is surprising at times how much Brooks is relegated to a secondary character, especially after the first half (which I can't help but wonder if this wasn't a brilliantly drawn parallel to Brooks' own dwindling career). Nevertheless, the fictional account of Brooks' summer in New York in 1922 should please many of her fans.

      I wish The Chaperone immense success. I believe most fan will agree, if they give it a chance, that it's a huge step in the right direction.

      Welcome back, Laura.
    • 3/5
      This interesting story of personal discovery is certainly that of the title character and not the individual pictured on the cover. Cora was confronted by many of the world's challenges in her long life, each one changing her. While some were subtle, most of these crossroads found her significantly different as she reached the other side. It was heart-warming to see that she was able to balance her experiences and continue to blossom in a positive way. I think her grace and growth are inspiring and rare.
    • 4/5
      If you are a lover of Historical Fiction, you will enjoy The Chaperone but beware it is a dark tale. Dark and depressing story of an orphan who at age 35 voluteers to take "before she was famous" Louise Brook to New York City to study dance. Knowing the era, I was surprised that Cora's husband Alan would allow her to travel to New York City for an entire month.When Cora tells her husband that she is going to be a Chaperone to a bratty 15 year old, I was sure he would demand that she does not go! Knowing that he was stunningly handsome, I assumed that he had a mistress and or girlfriend. Before purchasing or borrowing please note the story is about the Chaperone and not her charge. You will be totally surprised as the story progresses.
    • 3/5
      Cloying, but still brought tears to my eye for the passage of time and a long life, well lived.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It's the story of Cora starting out life as an orphan in NYC and ending as a woman of means in Wichita. Orphan, daughter, wife, mother, friend, lover, activist, but most famously chaperone to the infamous Louise Brooks. LB is the secondary character in this novel (thank goodness!) which leaves us with a truly wonderful life story of Cora who had her work cut out for her as the chaperone to Ms LB! I was fortunate enough to "listen" to this book narrated by the incomparable Elizabeth McGovern (who plays a character named Cora in Downton Abbey) and she was spectacular. It's an easy read, great story and holds some interesting historical tidbits in it--if you are an audiophile--listen to it, Ms McGovern is fabulous!
    • 4/5
      This story takes place over a period of time starting in the early 1920's. The main character, Cora, is a 36 year old wife and mother of twins who are college age. She lives in Wichita, with her husband, Allen, who is a wealthy lawyer. The story contrasts the cultural changes taking place across the nation, with the strict,"moral" judgemental mindset of the times. Hemlines were rising, corsets were becoming passe, and women were cutting their hair and socializing with young men without an adult near by. Cora goes on a personal adventure when she accepts a requests from the mother of a beautiful young 17 year old woman, Louise, who has been chosen for tryouts to a prestigious dance school in New York City. Cora decided to take the job but she will need to be gone for over a month and she had never been so far from home. Throughout the story, lies and secrets seem to be part of everyone's lives, covered over with a blanket of proper etiquette and social rules. There are several parallel plot lines that are all intriguing making the reader wanting to find out the conclusion to all of them. The end of the story starts to drag and I think it should have stopped sooner. This is a story that stresses the importance of true relationships and pokes the reader into valuing people in our lives and not to judgeing anyone by appearances.
    • 3/5
      Cora Carlisle is the chaperone for Louise Brooks as they travel to NY so Louise can attend a prestigious dance school for five weeks. Cora has her own reasons for agreeing to be the chaperone and as the story develops we learn why. Louise is a handful to say the least and is always stirring up trouble. We learn about the past of both women and let's just say some things happen that you will not see coming. My book club really enjoyed the book!
    • 2/5
      Well intentioned but didactic book that tells instead of showing. Interesting historical tidbits about Louise Brooks and 1920's America.
    • 5/5
      THE CHAPERONE by Laura Moriarty was published in 2012. I read about this book recently in an article about a new movie and PBS event, based on this book and scripted by Julian Fellowes. How exciting. I had to read it as I am a big fan of Fellowes’ style and work.Set in the early 1920s, a Kansas woman chaperones a very talented, headstrong and beautiful 15 year-old dancer (Louise Brooks) to New York City for the summer. One is looking towards the future - what it will bring (and trying to manipulate it) and one is revisiting the past (and trying to manipulate it).The writing is extremely detailed which I like. I feel an intimate part of every scene, every event, and every character. The sense of place is extraordinary - the orphanage, the train ride, the Kaufman farm, Wichita, Kansas, Cora’s home, NYC - very detailed and precisely written.A story of identity. A story of evolution - Cora and her core values developing and maturing. A story of ordinary people living their lives - with secrets and lies, high and low points, joys and frustrations and sorrows and (always) kindness.I liked the author’s list of books and documents she read while working on this book.All the characters ‘spoke to me’, even Louise. I felt much affected by the Kaufman’s. They were particularly kind and courageous in their quiet, humble way.If you are a fan of detailed, personal, period writing, you will like this book.
    • 2/5
      What schlock!
    • 4/5
      Kansas, in 1925, was another country. Moriarty captures the essence of the twentieth century rift in the relationship between her characters, Cora Carlisle, the staid Wichita matron, and Louise Brooks, the arrogant young soon-to-be-famous dancer. Both are drawn to New York for their own private reasons. Only one of them discovers not answers, but a way of building a bridge from one century to the next. From her broken past to a more hopeful future.Sensitively told and lyrically written, "The Chaperone" is a tender portrait of a woman seeking a way to mend her broken life, and a broken girl who doesn't yet realize she's damaged. The solution is at once satisfying, nontraditional, and sure to please.
    • 5/5
      I so loved this book. I thought this novel would mainly be about Cora's relationship to the actress Louise Brooks and the time she spent chaperoning her in New York before she became famous but that was only a small part of it. It was more about the social attitudes of the time and how both Louise and Cora would both go on to define their lives according to their own terms. To say much more would be to ruin the story. Although Louise was a real person and the facts of her life can easily be read online, the chaperone Cora is the author's creation and watching her journey from uptight matron into the person she becomes makes for a fascinating story.
    • 3/5
      Interesting novel about a repressed Kansas matron assigned to accompany 15-year-old Louise Brooks toNew York City for a summer. The part of the novel that tells the story of the summer itself is beautifully written and compelling--but when the "chaperone" returns to Kansas, the careful narrative gets pushed aside. The narrative makes major leaps through years and entire decades to tell the story of the rest of the chaperone's life, but without the beautiful detail, it's hard to care. Kind of turns into a _Stone Diaries_ life-story plot, especially at the end...but not nearly as magnificently written as Carol Sheilds' novel.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was just a chick book but it surprised me and I found I really liked it. Cora surprised me with her gay husband and her “brother” who was really her lover. Started in the early years of the 20th century with silent films and ended around the first gay rights. Louise was too pretty and unloved for her own good. 8/20
    • 4/5
      The summer of 1922 Cora Carlisle accompanies Louise Brooks as a chaperone to New York City where Louise has been selected to attend Denishawn School of Dancing. Cora, an orphan sent from NYC on the orphan trains to Kansas is searching for her real parents. Thed story is an interesting look at the evolution of a woman amidst the turbulent times of change for women within the family, relationships, and society.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book. It was an interesting story written by the main character Cora who was a chaperone. Chaperoning a young girl one summer completely changed her life for the better in many ways. It was a satisfying book, you followed Cora along on her life until the day she died.
    • 5/5
      * My 2012 Favorite Book of the Year *I've had a library hold request on THE CHAPERONE since early summer, and I finally got my turn to read it. Now I'm wishing I had bought my own copy months ago, because I absolutely loved it!The story is about Cora Carlisle, a 36-year old Kansas housewife and mother of two grown sons, who accompanies a neighbor's teenage daughter on a trip to New York City in the summer of 1922. The girl is Louise Brooks, who would one day be a famous Hollywood star of the silent film era. But in 1922, Louise is a wild and willful 15-year old in need of supervision.There's much more to the story than Cora babysitting Louise while she takes dance lessons in New York. Cora has her own agenda for making the trip. Her life has become stagnant and the unknowns from her past are partly to blame. What she discovers in New York is the catalyst that changes her life and her way of thinking.I enjoyed how the author constructed the story, weaving bits of Cora's past into the plot with Louise so we can see the events that shaped her. Many issues are touched on in this book, including women's plight in the early 20th century, child welfare, homosexuality and prejudice. Louise was a tragic figure and difficult to take a times, but she was a product of her past, just like Cora. At least I had a understanding of why she was so difficult.I loved this book and would recommend it to fans of women's fiction and historical fiction. The book covers the 1890s through the early 1970s, though the main story takes place in 1922. I got pretty attached to the characters in this book, and I was teary-eyed reading the last 13 pages and seeing their stories wrap up. THE CHAPERONE is definitely a top three favorite of mine for 2012.
    • 4/5
      It is 1922, Cora Carlisle, happily married in Wichita, but facing an empty nest, decides to be a chaperone for 15 year old Louise Brooks on her trip to New York City, where she will study with a renowned dance teacher for the summer. Cora’s husband, Alan, prefers that she doesn’t go; but he gives his consent. Louise Brooks is hoping to be invited to join the dance company so she may continue to train for a professional life.The book begins during the time of prohibition, of racial prejudice and inequality, of homophobia, and of rigid rules governing women’s behavior. Their dress is prim, they don’t smoke in public, they rarely work and if financially able, they entertain themselves doing charity work, needlework, raising a family and maintaining their homes.Louise is the daughter of a not very maternal mother, who would have preferred no children and would like to live vicariously through her daughter, and a father who often mocks her achievements. Although she is young, intelligent and an accomplished dancer, she is also willful, defiant, disobedient and promiscuous.Cora was an orphan. She was brought up by nuns for the first few years of her life under strict and rigid guidance. When she is taken from the orphanage and sent to Ohio by the Children’s Aid Society, she begins a new life, with a loving family. When a dreadful accident takes her new parents from her, she is once again set adrift, but by now, she is a teenager and capable of being on her own. A lawyer comes to her aid, pro bono, when her ability to inherit is questioned by the other children from her adoptive father’s former marriage. Alan Carlisle not only helps her get what is rightfully hers, but he marries her, as well. His family embraces her despite her uncertain past and heritage, but requests that it be kept secret. Cora soon learns that her relationship with her husband will be a challenging one.On the train trip to New York, chaperoning Louise, Cora is immediately put to the test. Louise disobeys her and sneaks off. Cora tries to be amenable, not judgmental, but her patience is often tried on this trip and on their brief stay in New York. Louise likes to push the envelope and her lack of prudence will often do her in and have a negative effect on her future life.When she gets to New York, in addition to chaperoning Louise, Cora wants to try and find her roots. She knows nothing of her family. When she visits the orphanage where she spent her early years, The Home for Friendless Girls, to try and find out information about her background, she meets the German handyman, Joseph. Because of circumstances beyond his control, Joseph finds himself penniless, and he and his daughter now live in the same orphanage, where he works in exchange for his and her room and board.While in New York, Cora learns far more from Louise’s willfulness than Louise learns from Cora’s rigid rules. Louise’s openness exposes Cora’s mind to a different world, including the freedom of the city and a more independent lifestyle. Although she is shocked by Louise’s behavior, she is also thrilled by the new things she is discovering.When Louise is accepted by the studio and leaves to study dance more seriously, Cora returns home to Wichita. She brings with her, two guests, Joseph and his daughter Greta. He is supposedly her long, lost widower brother and her young niece.The nine plus decades we travel with Cora are filled with enlightenment and change. Her children grow up, another war occurs, love blossoms in the strangest of places, racial equality improves, homophobia is no longer acceptable, prohibition ends, birth control becomes common place and strict rules of morality are reversed.The novel, based on the very real life of the beautiful Mary Louise Brooks, an accomplished dancer and movie star, almost feels like a coming of age story for Cora, the very sheltered adult, not Louise, who has been exposed to far too much abuse and far too little attention and guidance, as she takes pleasure in moving beyond accepted limits. Perhaps it is also the coming of age story of a town, a country and a people, learning how to be more humane; perhaps it is even the coming of age story of the world, as it opens up and begins to accept more equality for all.
    • 4/5
      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 twists and turns and you too will be up all night. Highly recommended, equal parts modern in concept and back in time.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I 1st hated Louise Brooks but as the story unfolded I grew to have pity on her and her life. Cora was at first very unlikeable but then I grew to be very fond of her and how she lived her life. I love the era in which the bulk of the story took place. I highly recommend this book for book clubs.
    • 3/5
      When young matron Cora Carlisle hears that Louise Brooks needs a chaperone for a stay in New York City, she jumps at the chance. The girl is only fifteen--what trouble can she be? And, Cora has her own reasons for wanting to spend time in New York. By the end of the three day train ride from Wichita, Cora realizes that her work is cut out for her. Louise is not only shockingly beautiful, but rude, headstrong, and loose! Sharing a small apartment with Louise for six weeks while keeping her under control is no small feat. Thankfully, during the day Louise is being put through her paces at the Denishawn dance school, so during this time Cora is free to pursue her own interests, with very surprising results.Slowly, through flashbacks, the reader learns Cora's story. As a very young girl she had arrived in Kansas via an orphan train, been adopted by a loving farm family, done well in school where her natural intelligence emerged, and married a successful and handsome young Wichita attorney. Then later we discover that there are secrets even in her marriage.I was eager to read The Chaperone because I had read and enjoyed the author's The Center of Everything. This book was not nearly as well-structured as that one was. It's too bad Moriarty couldn't have found a way to end it more quickly. The parts I've highlighted here, through Cora's summer in New York with Louise, were fascinating and well-written. But then, in the final 75 pages the author decided she must bring each character to a tidy end. She rushed through the last fifty years of Cora's life, jumping decades at a time. It's not only that it wasn't graceful, it simply wasn't good storytelling. To end such a fascinating look at life in the early 1900s with such an uninteresting outline of events was a real disservice to both the characters and their stories.
    • 4/5
      A wonderful surprise! I think I expected this book to be about the famous Flapper, Louise Brooks. But this novel is much more complex than the publisher's blurb would lead us to believe. The parallel stories of Cora and Louise go only through the first part of the book. After that first five weeks together in New York, their paths split, and the story becomes Cora's. Her role as chaperone serves only to provide the beginnings of a transformation that will continue throughout her life. Louise continues to appear, but only in cameo roles.After her return to Witchita, the life changing events Cora endures (often unexpected) and her ability to adopt to them is affirming, both for herself and her family. The variety of relationships, of changing social and cultural mores of the Roaring Twenties and pre-war era all serve as opportunities for growth, showing us a strong woman willing to take chances, often willing to defy society, while at the same time able to operate inside the structure of the accepted woman's role.It's difficult to talk about everything that happens without spoiling an outstanding story. Moriarty gives us in excruciating detail the life of an upper-middle class woman of the era, as well as the changes bombarding her from the social, financial, medical, political, and religious circles in which she moved. It's a compelling story, and one that is sure to engage both women and men of all ages.I listened to this one in audio, and while I normally enjoy this format, I did find the Kansas accent adapted by the narrator Elizabeth McGovern a bit off-putting. I don't think I realized that Kansans have that strong a a twang. Other than that small nit-pick however, it was an enjoyable story, a well-told narration, and a book that deserves a good look by many many readers.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those books that really hooked me in at first but fell off a bit towards the end. It's 1922, and Cora Carlisle, a respectable Wichita wife in her late thirties, is hired to accompany 15-year old Louise Brooks to New York City. Louise, who became a silent film star a few years later, had been accepted by the exclusive dance school run by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Despite their age difference, it quickly becomes clear that it's Cora, not Louise, who is the more naive. Wherever they go, the beautiful Louise attracts male attention--and seems to know just what to do with it.The story is more that of Cora than of Louise. The main reason that she wants to go to New York is to find out about her birth parents. She vaguely remembers a dark-haired woman holding her and singing in a foreign language, but her earliest clear memories are of the Catholic orphanage where she was raised to about age seven. Cora was one of thousands of orphaned children who were put on trains and shipped to potential parents in the plains states. Fortunately, her adoptive parents were loving and kind, but as she grew, Cora's life was not untouched by tragedy. In a day when adoption records were sealed, Cora attempts to find out who where she came from, who she really is.The confrontations between Cora and Louise are exactly what one would expect, Cora constantly reminding her charge that she mustn't allow herself to be "compromised," Louise scoffing at Cora's old-fashioned Christian morality. This leads to a lot of self-examination on the chaperone's part, including the revelation of family secrets. But it isn't long before Louise is invited to join the Denis-Shawn company, and Cora heads back to Wichita--but not exactly to the same life. The last quarter of the novel rushes through 50+ years of Cora's life, with occasional mentions and sightings of Louise. Overall, it seems rushed, and rather formulaic, all the 'surprises' too anticipated: hence the 3.5 rating. The rush is even more pronounced because the section on Louise seems rather dragged out. Think about the balance: 3/4 of the book focused on a few months in 1922 (plus Cora's memories), 1/3 covering the next 50+ years. Overall, it's not a bad read, just slightly disappointing in the end. One thing I did get out of it was a renewed interest in Louise Brooks, one of the most distinctively stunning and most controversial actresses of the silent film era. Netflix will be sending me a documentary on her life, based in part on her autobiography, Lulu in Hollywood.
    • 5/5
      I wanted to write a nice, elaborate review to give justice to this wonderful novel because I feel that the most significant aspects of it have somehow been overlooked. Unfortunately, I seem to not be able to write what I really want, so maybe shorter will be better this time.1. I believe The Chaperone is first and foremost about people's inability and/or unwillingness to change. It's about our judgmental natures and our arrogance rendering 'us' better than 'them' even though we're all human, some women better than other women, even though we're the same gendeer and in the end we are facing the same challenges . Some if us choose to change and make a change, and that's why humanity moves forward. But some of us choose to stay in denial, live an illusory life that allows them to think their morals are better and the rest of us should live accordingly, unless we want to be judged and condemned for stepping outside the line. This is why even though humanity does move forward, it's also doing it at a snail's pace. Today we, who read The Chaperone are not that much morally open-minded than Cora and her circle of female friends were in the 1920s, just like they were not all that much better than the society was in The Age of Innocence that Cora was reading when in NYC.2. Homosexuality is still something many of us have big issues understanding, accepting or wanting to accept. I know that there are many books dealing with homosexuality exclusively, mostly in a form of erotica writing. But I will most likely never read them. That's why The Chaperone is a book that mattered to me so greatly. Thanks to Ms. Moriarty, my heart was shattered over the tragic life of the one homosexual couple in the novel that strangely no one mentioned. I loved this couple so, so much and when their lives came to an end, I just wept at the injustice of this whole, f&$#ed world where because of our stupid arrogance we ruin other people, we take away their right to be happy and to show their happiness to the whole world. Oh, I'm still tearing up about it. Anyway, there's a lot more to the book, but the rest you can find out from other reviews.
    • 5/5
      I saw Laura Moriarty read from The Chaperone at the Iowa City Book Festival earlier this summer. I think I enjoyed this book even more because I knew a little about how the story developed. The book tells the story of Cora Carlisle, a wife and mother in her mid-thirties who accompanies 15-year-old Louise Brooks to New York in the summer of 1922. The chaperone is mentioned in only a single sentence in Brooks' autobiography, which motivated Moriarty to create her story. Initially, Cora appears to us much as she appears to Louise - an uptight woman who abides by outdated social conventions. But we soon learn that she is much more complicated than we expect. Her summer in New York and her struggles with Louise allow Cora to reconsider some of her life choices and in many ways, to start anew. It is those experiences that allows Cora to reflect back near the end of the book, "This life is mine because of good luck. And because I reached out and took it." Well-written, fascinating characters, and a glimpse of history. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
    • 5/5
      THE CHAPERONE is a double biography, one real and pne fictional. Louise Brooks was a dancer and silent movie star in the early decades of the twentieth century. She lived most of her young life in Wichita, Kansas, until, at age fifteen, she left for New York City to study dance at the Denshawn School of dance. Her talent and beauty quickly took her to stardom.The fictional Cora Carlisle was the 36-year-old wife of a prominent Wichita lawyer who went to New York to serve as her chaperone during that summer while her twin sons were working on a farm before they left for college. Times were in flux and Louise, with her bobbed hair and free-spirit behavior was far ahead of society's norms. Cora's reserved personality, symbolized by the confining corsets she wore as part of the women's fashion requirements, were totally opposite. She took her responsibilities as seriously as Louise took her let me be free attitude. Later in the book Louise tells Cora about her personal history which explains some of her behaviors.Cora had an ulterior motive for going to New York: As very young child she had lived in an orphanage (The New York Home for Friendless Girls). At about age three, she was placed on a train with other children and taken west to try to find someone to adopt her. She was placed with a wonderful couple in Wichita but they died suddenly when she was sixteen. She married a year later but wanted to learn about her biological parents and why she ended up in the home. Being in New York would give her the opportunity to seek that information.Both main characters change a lot during the story and the time they spend in New York has a lot to do with that change. They both live unconventional lives for different reasons. In her later years, Cora is actively in involved with social issues of the day. (In one instance, in 1965, Kansas debates permitting the sale of contraceptives. Cora hopes to testify but the panel and witnesses are all male.). By the time she dies, she has seen a huge transformation in America. Louise, sadly doesn't fare as well.I thought the book did an excellent job combining fact and fiction to tell the story not only of the two women and their complicated lives but of how women and society changed during Cors's long lifetime.
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to like this book, and at times I did. The premise, a middle aged woman from Kansas accompanies a young Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922, was appealing since I enjoy reading about that era and the dynamic between these two women sounded interesting. The story had a number of surprises throughout, but somehow by the end seemed cliched and strained. The unexpected twists in plot became themes that had to be carried through and wrapped up by the end, and as a result drug the ending down. By no means a bad read, just somewhat of a disappointment to me.