The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

This was a much better book than I expected it to be.  The creation of place and time is expertly and subtly achieved and I found myself completely drawn in to this world where everything is changing.  With the First World War out of the way and the Great Depression yet to hit society is changing and for middle aged Cora Carlisle it is a very confusing time - first women showed their ankles and now they dare to show their knees and have stopped wearing restrictive corsets; scandalous!

The plot itself meanders gently along in a wholly convincing way and Cora, as narrator, is completely believable and empathetic.  When her origin story is revealed there is a touch of shock to it, after all she is the perfect Kansas Matron.  However, it is related in such a gentle and matter of fact way that it feels wholly believable.  Couple this with the dark secrets of her marriage (which come as no surprise to the reader when they are revealed) and her brief, but life changing and life affirming, visit to New York and she soon becomes a character that you wish you knew.

If you are expecting a fictionalised account of Louise Brooks' life, and the blurb does point that way, then you will be disappointed.  Yes she is a character within the book but she very much takes centre stage to Cora.  In all honesty, this would have worked just as well with a completely fictional damaged ingenue but it probably wouldn't have been quite so much fun.  It did lead me to read more about Louise Brooks' life and from what I can tell the author has done a great job of relating the facts of her life and even managed to get some of the complicated person on to the page.

It does cover a wide range of topics that are, perhaps, as sensitive today as they were in the 1920s and 1930s.  Most importantly it shows prohibition from the perspective of someone who believes wholeheartedly in it and then sees the collateral damage of the wholesale banning of alcohol; not a viewpoint we are used to seeing.  It also covers the American equivalent of the Magdalene Laundries, the orphan trains sent out from the East Coast to the mid-west and the prevaling social attitudes towards immigrants, people of colour and women.

The only down side for me was the rush through the war and post war years with whole decades being glossed over towards the end.  There is a nod to the complete 360 in social mores and the burgeoning freedom of women and the start of acceptance for members of the homosexual community but only a brief tip of the head.

Overall this is a warm book with a completely engrossing storyline and a vibrant lead character.

THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PUBLISHER