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The Chaperone

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The Chaperone

By: Laura Moriarty
Narrated by: Elizabeth McGovern
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About this listen

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone, read by the actress Elizabeth McGovern, best-known for her role as Cora, Countess of Grantham, in the hit TV series Downton Abbey.

On a summer's day in 1922, Cora Carlisle boards a train from Wichita, Kansas, to New York City, leaving behind a marriage that's not as perfect as it seems and a past that she buried long ago.

She is charged with the care of a stunning young girl with a jet-black fringe and eyes wild and wise beyond her 15 years. This girl is hungry for stardom, and Cora is hungry for something she doesn't yet know.

Cora will be many things in her lifetime - an orphan, a mother, a wife, a mistress - but in New York she is a chaperone and her life is about to change. It is here, under the bright lights of Broadway, in a time when prohibition reigns and speakeasies with their forbidden whispers behind closed doors thrive, that Cora finds what she has been searching for. It is here, in a time when illicit thrills and daring glamour sizzle beneath the laws of propriety that her life truly begins. It is here that Cora and her charge, Louise Brooks, take their first steps towards their dreams.

©2012 Laura Moriarty (P)2012 Penguin Audio Romance Marriage New York

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All stars
Most relevant  
A wonderful idea well researched and written. Pulling on your emotions without a soupcon of sugar. Along with a superb narration. Marvellous book.

Heartfelt memoir of 20th century .

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an unusual & uplifting story with a sympathetic main character and beautifully read-very enjoyable indeed

a great audio book

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This is an extraordinary book. It is utterly absorbing - I was transported. Above all Elizabeth McGovern's narration is exceptional - she acts it out in such a wonderful way and her voice is soothing and beguiling. This is a gripping and uplifting book - I was transported by the narration - I WISH she did more books! Really up there in the Juliet Stevenson league!! Cora is a wonderful character and her story is utterly unexpected and compelling - a perfect evocation all of time and place. I am recommending it to everyone....

I was lost in this book: the narration is outstanding

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Lovely story. There were a couple of events in this book that I really wasn't expecting as I thought it would just be an easy book to listen to but there are a few surprises (good). I loved the main character and really didn't want this to end.

Brilliant

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Would you consider the audio edition of The Chaperone to be better than the print version?

I don't know, as I haven't read it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Chaperone?

The private moments between Cora and Joseph are so carefully and sensitively portrayed. Understated, but laiden with love and understanding.

Have you listened to any of Elizabeth McGovern’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No, but I will seek them out. Her reading is exquisite

Any additional comments?

Riveting listening, I hated having to put my ipod down.

Breathtaking

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This story has some good surprises and gives you a real feeling of the period the first half of the book is set in. I enjoyed the narration, each character really came to life. The only reason this isn't 5 out of 5 is because towards the end of the story it feels as if the author is rushing to an end.

Enjoyable read!

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Fictional account of
Louise Brooks escape from the mid west to New York to train for the stage as a dancer.
Told by the middle aged chaperone who accompanies her to escape her unhappy marriage, she discovers love for the first time with a German immigrant who she dislikes on sight while revisiting the convent she was left in as an orphan.

Louise is determined to succeed and never return home and the chaperone does not want to either. She is on a mission to discover her origins from the convent and leaves happier with her new lover and lives happily ? ever after. . .in a new frame of mind with a freer attitude learned from Louise whose love of life, intelligence and energy sparkle; gives the chaperone courage to make demands at home and live her life the way she wants, instead of conforming to the narrow confines of housewifery and non sex life with her homosexual husband.

Fast, jazz hot, sweltering New York leaps off the page as does the slow pace of small town America where everyone knows your business. The book delves into black segregation on
Broadway and immigrant poverty, middle class hypocrisy, alcoholism, unhappy marriage and church.

I absolutely loved it.

America 1926 Louise Brooks early years in New York

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This is excellently read by Elizabeth McGovern, immediately recognisable from Downton Abbey, whose warm southern cadences are easy to engage with. The story brings tobgether an eclectic cast of characters and doesn't fare well under too close examination in terms of plot credibility, but it is light-hearted fun and in the end a good yarn to entertain you whilst you drive, walk the dog or hang out the washing!

Frothy nostalgic fun

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A really good story. I couldn't put it down. Elizabeth McGovern narrated it really well. Recommended.

Rivetting

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What did you like most about The Chaperone?

the twists and turns and the way it evokes the ebbs and flows of progression through life.

Any additional comments?

I would have preferred to hear a little more of Cora's feistiness in an otherwise excellent performance.

insightful

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