the chaperone. {a blogher book club review}

I did something amazing a couple weeks ago.

I sat down, grabbed a book, opened it up, stayed up way too late, and read it. It wasn’t a how-to book, or a cookbook, or a planning book, or a homeschooling book, or a book about planning. It was a historical fiction book that I loved. In fact, as I just wrote, I stayed up much, much, much too late reading Laura Moriarty’s words in The Chaperone.

image courtesy of blogher

Set in the 1920’s The Chaperone chronicles the lives of two women – two women that ultimately would struggle to discover self – as they travel to New York City. The one, portrayed as the one with the life all together is Cora, the chaperone, who was sent to protect and guard the feisty Louise Brooks as she travels to pursue her dream of dancing. I started thinking it would be a book about Louise, and yet, here I was drawn into the life of Cora.

She was a woman, a determined woman, who lived her life behind the mask of perfectionism and yet lived that way attempting to maintain normal within the confines of society. It was an engaging, challenging, and thought-provoking look into the 1920s culture and the mindsets that prevailed. I’ve always enjoyed historical fiction, and Moriarty skillfully paints a realistic and intriguing picture of the 1920s and beyond.

This book reminded me that, sigh, yes, I think I’ll have to grab a book again and curl up with my cup of tea late at night and simply read again. Tired is okay sometimes.

To read more about The Chaperone pop on over to Blogher’s Now Reading Book Club.

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of The Chaperone as part of the Blogher Book Club. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was provided. The image used is property of Blogher.