The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

Here’s a delicious summer read…The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty.  I’m a fan of novels that fill in the story of real people—books like The Paris Wife, The Women, Loving Frank,  Jackie by Josie—so The Chaperone  is an obvious choice for me.  The story revolves around Cora, a 36 year old married woman who chaperones a young Louise Brooks, just a few years before she will become a silent film star,  for a summer in NYC.   I expected to learn more about Louise Brooks, but the book is The Chaperone, and that is who it is about.  I also expected that summer to be the whole story, but the book covers Cora’s whole life.  The summer of 1922 is just one of Cora’s defining moments.   It’s a story of secrets, of what to confide, and how the fear of people discovering those secrets determines Cora’s choices.  One of my favorite lines sums up the story.  “Under her hands, under the layers of Raymond’s fine suit and shirtwaist, were the same freckled shoulders she had seen that awful day she thought her life was over—and when she was sure this decent, beloved man was her enemy.  She was grateful life could be long.” 

Definately worth reading!