The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

While I'm not usually drawn to historical fiction, this one sounded (and was!) very interesting.  It takes place in the early 1900's, and it's the story of Cora, a woman from Kansas, who is a chaperone to a 16-year-old girl as she travels to New York City during one summer.  The girl is the future film star, Louise Brooks, whose name sounded somewhat familiar to me, and after Googling her, I can see that the book really does follow her life.  But the book isn't just about Louise.  It's mostly about Cora and how, as a woman in that era, her feelings about a woman's place, sexuality, social behavior, and morality changed as a result of that summer in New York.  Her background is fascinating, but I won't ruin it for you by telling it all.  I think it's a very interesting read and it does portray a time of change - and thank God we did change.  -June

P.S.  I listened to the audiobook version, and Elizabeth McGovern was the narrator.  While I love her in Downton Abbey, I confess I didn't care for the way she read it.  She tried to use various accents (Midwest, German) and none rang true.  Plus her "normal" voice as the narrator was kind of stuffy English like it is on Downton.  So I'd recommend the paper version over the audio one.