The Chaperone

Cora Carlisle, abandoned as an infant, adopted in childhood, and deceived in her youth, goes to New York to find her roots while also keeping an eye on a young girl. Cora’s ward is none other than Louise Brooks—the future star of silent cinema and an idol of the 1920s. Louise, having escaped from an unbearable provincial town, enters a progressive dance school, and her brilliant, though short-lived rise lies ahead. Still, this girl has no shortage of self-confidence for someone so young—well-read, perceptive, and quite formidable. Cora Carlisle has a hard life ahead. The intoxicating changes brought by the beguiling “Jazz Age” look to a proper Kansas matron like a complete loss of moral bearings and mere madness.

But in New York, her worldview begins to split at the seams. What is the cost of outward respectability? What is the value of genuine kindness? What should you choose—uninhibited sincerity or a comfortable mask? Comparing herself to the young Louise, Cora learns important things step by step—and returns home a different person, capable of loving without restraint, being kind, being tolerant, and standing up for those who are less fortunate.

“Companion Girl” is an engaging story set against one of the brightest periods of the 20th century. A young rebellious girl and a respectable matron are two sides of the same coin—two women who managed to help one another, and those who needed help. Woven together, the two lives form a story of how a person changes and changes others—how they learn, make choices, and what kind of kindness they are capable of.