Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Chaperone
    Unavailable
    The Chaperone
    Unavailable
    The Chaperone
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Chaperone

    Written by Laura Moriarty

    Narrated by Elizabeth McGovern

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Soon to be a feature film from the creators of Downton Abbey starring Elizabeth McGovern, The Chaperone is a New York Times-bestselling novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in the 1920s and the summer that would change them both.

     

    Only a few years before becoming a famous silent-film star and an icon of her generation, a fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita, Kansas, to study with the prestigious Denishawn School of Dancing in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone, who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle, a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip, has no idea what she's in for. Young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous black bob with blunt bangs, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will transform their lives forever.

     

    For Cora, the city holds the promise of discovery that might answer the question at the core of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in this strange and bustling place she embarks on a mission of her own. And while what she finds isn't what she anticipated, she is liberated in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of Cora's relationship with Louise, her eyes are opened to the promise of the twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive.

     

    Drawing on the rich history of the 1920s, '30s, and beyond -- from the orphan trains to Prohibition, flappers,  and the onset of the Great Depression to the burgeoning movement for equal rights and new opportunities for women -- Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone illustrates how rapidly everything, from fashion and hemlines to values and attitudes, was changing at this time and what a vast difference it all made for Louise Brooks, Cora Carlisle, and others like them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 5, 2012
    ISBN9781101564493
    Unavailable
    The Chaperone
    Author

    Laura Moriarty

    Laura Moriarty is the New York Times bestselling author of The Chaperone, as well as The Rest of Her Life, While I’m Falling, The Center of Everything, and American Heart. She received her degree in social work before returning for her MA in creative writing at the University of Kansas, and she was the recipient of the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas, where she is a professor of creative writing at the University of Kansas. Visit her online at www.lauramoriarty.net.

    More audiobooks from Laura Moriarty

    Related to The Chaperone

    Related audiobooks

    Biographical/AutoFiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Reading Room

      Aug 14, 2019

      There’s a beguiling, slow pace to Lucy Treloar’s extraordinary new novel. The ebb and flow of the plot and almost clandestine character revelations seem utterly in tune with the landscape, which in turn is slipping into the sea. But there’s also a sh

      2 min read

    • Article

      What’s Worth Watching Week 2

      Nov 7, 2019

      What’s Worth Watching Week 2
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Road Well Travelled: 100 Years Of Jack Kerouac

      Mar 12, 2022

      Jack Kerouac – anti-establishment icon, revolutionary author of the American classic On the Road, pioneer of the Beat Generation and, perhaps most of all, enduring symbol of cool. If a dog-eared paperback of On the Road slung in your back pocket was

      5 min read

    • Article

      Wrap Up a Good Read

      Dec 18, 2020

      HAVING TROUBLE PICKING OUT the perfect gift for everyone on your list? Did you wait till the last minute? Never fear, Newsweek has curated a list of book choices for you, with a selection of photo essays, biographies, novels, thrillers and more— all

      3 min read

    • Article

      Chasing Nostalgia In New York City

      May 14, 2022

      Chasing Nostalgia In New York City
      3 min read

    • Article

      BOOKS & AUDIO BOOKS

      Jul 9, 2020

      TANA WOJCZUK explores the life of celebrated gender-bending American actress Charlotte Cushman and considers how Victorian moralists sought to suppress her trailblazing history What first drew you to write a biography of Charlotte Cushman? I was r

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Lie of Little Women

      Aug 14, 2018

      The Lie of Little Women
      7 min read

    • Article

      Time For Us All To Grow Up

      Apr 28, 2022

      CIRCUS OF DREAMS (Constable, £25), John Walsh’s elegant and entertaining memoir of London literary life in the late 1980s and early 1990s, turns a bit less elegant and entertaining in its final stretch. Here Mr Walsh files a traditional Grub Street v

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Sedaris, Adelmann, Cross-Smith, and More

      May 31, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from David Sedaris, Maria Adelmann, Leesa Cross-Smith, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The

      5 min read

    • Article

      New Zealand Books

      Dec 9, 2019

      Peter Simpson draws on several decades of thinking about, studying and teaching the work of Colin McCahon in this first of two volumes surveying the artist’s career. It is not a biography of the man but a history of his work. Nevertheless, there are

      5 min read

    • Article

      Experiment In Self-discovery

      Feb 21, 2020

      Experiment In Self-discovery
      4 min read

    • Article

      It’s Showtime!

      Aug 1, 2021

      It’s Showtime!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Rooney, Tóibín, Groff, and More

      Sep 7, 2021

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Sally Rooney, Colm Tóibín, Lauren Groff, and whole lot more—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Rooney, Tóibín, Groff, and More appeared first on The Mill

      9 min read

    • Article

      Too Young for Too Long: On Daniel Torday’s ‘Boomer1’

      Sep 21, 2018

      1. The term solecism—an error in syntax; a minor infelicity; a violation of social protocol—was one of Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s Word of the Day selections in spring 2004, around the same time that Cassie Black (née Claire Stankowitcz) began consi

      9 min read

    • Article

      New Spring Reads

      Apr 21, 2022

      New Spring Reads
      1 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Crosley, Gayle, Fajardo-Anstine, and More

      Jun 7, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Sloane Crosley, Caleb Gayle, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The

      6 min read

    • Article

      History Has Shown Us That LGBTQ+ Freedom Is A Fragile Thing

      Dec 1, 2022

      It’s a grim time, but glimmers of hope are breaking through. An emboldened minority begins to assert itself, seeking to reject traditional ways of living as they seek to blur gender binaries, pulling apart the rigid constructs of what society says a

      2 min read

    • Article

      Acts Of War

      Jan 22, 2024

      by Vanessa Chan (Hodder &Stoughton, $37.99) Malaysian author Vanessa Chan draws on her family history for this gripping story about a family in Kuala Lumpur over two time periods – in 1935 in the run-up to World War II and in the final throes of it

      4 min read

    • Article

      Viral Load

      Feb 2, 2024

      Viral Load
      3 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jan 16, 2023

      Books
      6 min read

    Reviews for The Chaperone

    4/5

    689 ratings116 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Interesting book about Kansas and New York from the early 1900’s to the 80’s. Want to learn more about Louise Brooks. This book goes to show you that you never know what happens behind closed doors.
    • 4/5
      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 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.
    • 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.
    • 5/5
      A great read.
    • 4/5
      I hadn't realised that Louise Brooks was a real person until I had finished the book - makes this novel all the more remarkable - some excellent characters (Louise, Myra) though the narrator has lots of hangups and a complicated life story; left at a children's home as a baby, adopted to a couple in a conservative rural town, marrying a homosexual, coping with wearing corsets, meeting her birth mother during the chaparone trip to take Louise to dance school to begin her career, finding a lover who then lives in her home being passed off as a long lost brother etc
    • 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.
    • 2/5
      What schlock!
    • 5/5
      OMG. Fantastic.
    • 4/5
      It would seem that Cora's role as chaperone to the difficult Louise in New York altered her complacent life forever. I believe that because Cora's life was so unusual from the start she was already more sensitive, mature and intelligent. Her peculiar marital situation and its accompanying loneliness made her more aware of nuances. It is in New York that she learns just why Louise is flirtatious, irascible, incorrigible, and irresponsible. The shock and pain she feels push her to re-examine most of the ridiculous social mores she was taught as a child. Perhaps her life in Wichita would have eventually changed but the trip to New York acted as the catalyst, an exciting, eye-opening experience. New York tested and shifted Cora's feelings on parental love, sexuality, racism, responsibility, and caring for oneself. I enjoyed reading The Chaperone but felt the second half of the book, after Cora returns to Wichita, was rushed and less realistic (she brings Joseph back with her?!). All in all a good read.
    • 5/5
      Read this book once, and then re-read for a book club meeting. The story centers on Cora Kauffman Carlisle as she chaperones Louise Brooks oin NYC, and then Cora's life upon her return home. This is historical fiction: Louise Brooks' story is true but Cora's is fictional. Very detailed during the NYC stay, but following that it goes very fast through the years.
    • 4/5
      This was a great read. This book was mostly about Cora but also about Louise, the young girl she chaperones to New York. It is written from the chaperones point of view and talks about how the trip and time spent with Louise brooks changes her.
    • 5/5
      This book was amazing!The characters were so well developed. I really liked how the story went all the way up to the end of Cora's life, too, not just dropped off at the end of chaperoning.

      I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did an amazing job.
    • 3/5
      Two women: Louise and Cora are thrown together in this story that travels from Wichita, KS to the bustle of New York City during the 1920's. Louise is Louise Brooks--destined to be a star but in this book a teenage dancer full of dreams. Cora is hired to be her chaperone, but she has ulterior motives for travelling to New York and secrets that no one--least of all Louise--would ever guess. As Louise bursts upon New York determined to experience all of the night life the city has to offer, Cora tries her best to fulfill her duties as a chaperone. She is distracted by the burning desire she has to find her birth mother, however, which is the real reason she wanted to come to New York. How her secrets do or do not come out, and the guidance she tries to give to the enigmatic Louise give this book a lot of tension and character that kept me turning the pages. Some of the revelations and tidy endings were a bit much to stomach, however. Still, I'd recommend this to fans of historical fiction who like tidy, happy endings and strong female characters.
    • 5/5
      Cora offers to be chaperone to Louise who is a budding dancer, very worldly wise to New York, an opportunity to settle ghosts from the past. Cora was a orphan in NY and sent mid west on the orphan trains. As the book proceeds deals with a number of social issues and a "family" dealing with its own issues. Louise and her family drop in and out of the picture
    • 4/5
      This book is perfect for summer -- light but not too lightweight -- an ideal beach read. I read it quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it, although Cora was Mary-Sued a bit toward the end.
    • 3/5
      plenty of turns and twists in this story about a mother with a little extra time on her hands that decides to accompany an aquaintances daughter to New York for a month long dance study. Morality, birth control, sexuality and acceptance of all different lifestyles and their restrictions come up in this turn of the century story.
    • 4/5
      Really really good storyl!! From beginning right down to its end!! This book touches upon such a sweeping array of social issues.
    • 5/5
      I most likely would not have picked this book up to read if I had seen it at the library. This was our library book club's book for March. I borrowed it from Overdrive because there weren't enough copies to go around to all the members. I enjoyed the audio book very much. The narrator Elizabeth McGovern did a phenomenal job with this book. She has the perfect voice for the Chaperone.I found myself laughing especially when Louise Brooks made a few of her off hand comments. I never even heard of Louise Brooks until I read this book. I guess some names of famous people just don't register when I read about them. I enjoyed this book and taking a look back at a time when life was different.To think that you could go to jail for certain things makes you realize just how far America has changed over the years.
    • 5/5
      I didn't have a ton of info regarding what this book was on. One of my coworkers who rarely reads or likes adult books recommended it to me so I decided it was worth a shot, and I am so glad that I listened to it.

      Clara goes to NYC with Louise Brooks in 1922 as her chaperone. Clara is trying to track down her birth mother b/c she believes it will make her feel more complete. While in NY she develops a friendship which becomes something more with a German man who works at the orphanage Clara came from. When she leaves NY without Louise (who has joined a dance troupe) the German and his daughter go with her, her time in NY forever changing her and making her happy.

      This is really Clara's life story and it was a lovely one. Lovely in the sense I found her life interesting, as it definitely was not always easy. There were so many historical details and Clara really does a lot of interesting things. She always seemed more liberal than many of the woman she spent time with in Wichita, she really comes into her own after her time in NY.

      Listening to it I really got very invested in the story. There were many times when I almost cried towards the end and the closing of Clara's life.
    • 3/5
      Read this book because it got good write-ups when it first was printed. The story had some dry spots for me, so there was a time I seriously thought about giving up on the book. The writing was thought out, it just in spots did not always hold my attention. There were places in the story I wanted to shake Louise and tell her, "that is part of life, grow-up and act human." I could picture the rapidly changing world the author was writing about, so on that point I liked the author. There are a few people I know who enjoy stories set in this time-frame, so I will suggest to them that they give the book a try. I don't think much of the general public would enjoy this book.
    • 5/5
      Although I thought this was a bit slow when I started it, I was soon pulled into the story of Cora. An orphan who came West on one of the orphan trains from New York, she found a new last name and a loving home. Still the prejudices of the time toward illegitimate children was sorely felt (all children from the trains were presumed to be illegitimate or from some other tainted background). Cora, however, grows into a lovely young woman who catches the eye of a successful family and soon marries Allan. Totally unprepared and uneducated in any manor regarding sex, she soon becomes pregnant with twins and endures a life threatening delivery. Allan tells her that would be the end of their sexual relations so that she never becomes pregnant again.When the opportunity arises to chaperone young beautiful, talented and carefree Louise Brooks to New York City, she seizes the moment with the notion of finding her roots while in New York. The character of Louise (based on a real silent film star) is totally in opposition of Cora who has been brought up to be prim, proper, and above all else aware of what others may think of her. Her trip to New York changes her drastically. Without spoiling this captivating tale, Cora soon find that life is much more complicated than the strict moral codes of Wichita, Kansas. She does find something of her past, but she finds so much more as well. Yes, there is a lover involved, but not as one would imagine. The relationship with Allan and others in Wichita is so beautifully drawn.I loved this book and particularly loved the ending which ends with Cora's death when in her 90's. Life in the United States changed radically from Cora's birth until her death. Her seemingly simple, yet ever so complicated life is a reflection of that change. Highly recommended for anyone who likes historical fiction, New York City, the midwest, and families.
    • 4/5
      Thoroughly enjoyable! This is a coming of age book, but the surprise is that it is the chaperone not the young Louise Brooks who grows up during this novel.
    • 5/5
      This novel by the talented Laura Moriarty is mostly fiction but also part real-life. The fictional protagonist is Cora and the real-life character is Louise Brooks, the silent film star. After spending about five weeks together the summer Louise is 15, Louise makes only occasional appearances throughout the rest of the book.The settings are Wichita, Kansas, and New York City (NYC) in the early 1900's. This is definitely Cora's story: she was in an orphanage in NYC, put on an orphan train to the mid-West, and taken in by a wonderful couple who gave her a loving home. Fortunately, I had read the novel, The Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline, so I was familiar with this aspect of Moriarty's novel.Louise's story is based on details of her career as a dancer and silent film star and her upbringing in Wichita. Cora volunteered to be the arrogant Louise's chaperone the summer Louise attended a prestigious dancing school in NYC. Cora had her own agenda for going with Louise. They had a profound effect on each other which affected the rest of their lives.Many issues are discussed: moral attitudes (homosexuality, birth control, the KKK), parenting, prohibition, corsets, and hemlines just to name a few. It was a different era and things we take for granted now were taboo then.Ms. Moriarty definitely did a lot of research to write this novel. Her characters are memorable. I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend it. 5 Stars!
    • 5/5
      I found this story of Cora, and her chaperoning of a young Louise Brooks (a future silent film star) to New York in 1922 impossible to put down. The author did an impressive job of capturing the lives of women in a time of great social upheaval in a very realistic way. So often in historical fiction the characters seem like modern women dumped in a historical setting and act in a way that makes fun or puts down the standards of the times.

      My only criticism of the book is that it went on too long. I enjoyed following Cora throughout her life, but think the time after the 1920s could have been summarized in one chapter.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful audiobook, beautifully performed. A great story, and made me curious about Louise Brooks.
    • 4/5
      You guys, this book is so awesome. I totally would have finished this tomorrow, but I got home and was like eff these books I'm reading, because I want to listen to The Chaperone. You know it's good when you're making up excuses to keep listening!Why Did I Read This Book?I finally realized that I could download an OverDrive app onto my iPod Touch and download audiobooks onto it, which is way easier than going to the library to get the discs, which I then have to rip onto my computer, move to my iPod, and then delete from both after (so don't yell at me for stealing please). Anyway, this was my first one from there, and I basically just had it show me all the available audiobooks, and scrolled to the first interesting one. *pats self on back for an excellent selection*What's the Story Here?Okay, so The Chaperone is all about a chaperone. How's that? Worst synopsis ever? Alright, so the book is about Cora, a bored housewife who agrees to chaperone a young Louise Brooks to New York City for the summer, as Louise had been accepted to a dance program. Cora has her own reasons for wanting to go, since she lived in New York City at a home for "friendless girls" when she was a child, before she was shipped out west on an orphan train and adopted in Kansas. If you're really interested in Louise Brooks, I warn you that she's really only the framing element and mostly remains on the periphery of the story. She's also a bit of a jerk.How did I like Cora?At first, I found Cora utterly insufferable. Much as Louise was whiny and unlikable, I totally took her petulant side over Cora's, because Cora mouthed off all the worst platitudes about virtue and the evils of drink and so forth. As the book goes along, though, Cora progresses wonderfully, both because of what she learns about her past and what she learns about life from Louise. She totally opens up and becomes this really empowered, strong woman, and I love it so much.And the Romance?Cora has long been unsatisfied in her marriage, because her husband stopped coming to the marriage bed after their twin sons were born. Because of how rough the birth was on her, they both agreed (as did the doctor) that she shouldn't have anymore. Still, Cora felt like they should be able to do something. She learns some things and partway through the book she has this revival, and it's just so great. Like, she starts off completely conventional, but finds out how much better life is if you live it the way that works for you. The romance is completely not like those usually found in books and is very touching.How was the ending?The story sort of fell apart towards the end. The last few chapters felt like epilogue on top of epilogue, because, where The Chaperone had been linear with occasional flashbacks, now the narration would jump several years forward all of a sudden and relate what everyone was doing now. While I was still interested, from a plot perspective, this was really weak, and the pacing was all off.How was the Narration?Though I have a slight obsession with celebrity narrators, I didn't choose this for that reason, because I totally did not recognize McGovern's name, but she plays Cora on Downton Abbey. Now she narrates a story about a Cora. Very interesting happenstance that. All actors aren't great narrators of course, but McGovern narrated fabulously well. She clearly distinguishes between characters and does some good accents too.
    • 5/5
      As I began this book I became somewhat fixated on Louise Brooks. Despite my rapidly advancing years, she was someone of an earlier generation, and I had to do a bit of quick research to learn more about her to see where this story might be going. As I learned more about her career I began to question why an author would write a novel that centered on LB, since if she ever was truly a star, she seemed to flame out rather quickly. And then when I was still only a few chapters into the book, it hit me - the title, dummy, is "The Chaperone". It's about Cora, not Louise! Well, that mental lapse aside, I enjoyed this book tremendously. It starts in 1922, Louise is 15, has been accepted at the DenisShawn Dance School in NYC and needs a chaperone to keep an eye on her (all the time)as she transitions from small, dusty Wichita, to the big city. Actually, Louise transitioned a longtime ago mentally, it's Cora who has to catch up, while keeping a rein on 15 year old L's impulses, hormones, impulsiveness and grit. And it's a tough job. This portion of the book ends about a third of the way through and now it's all about Cora. Actually, the author did a very nice job of slowly shifting the focus throughout the NYC visit and it's clear that Cora did a lot more growing than did Louise. While the author clearly seemed to "get" Louise based on my limited research, she also got the period, from Cora's corsets to acceptable behavior, not only in New York, but also Wichita. Throughout, Cora keeps growing, always knowing who she is, sometimes going along with others, other times drawing the line. Most of the remainder of the book takes us through the WWII years, but the author does satisfy our need to know what happens to these characters in the last several pages. An excellent book; I recommend it highly.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting story set near my home. I didn't know that Louise Brooks was a real person. I will have to do some research on her.I thought Cora changed from a meek, obedient wife to a modern woman very quickly. The living arrangements in the later part of the book were interesting, but I'm not sure how realistic the entire arrangement was.