This is a hardcover book. My sister loaned it to me to read but she has since decided that I can register and release it.

This book was so much better than the movie (as is often the case). I watched the movie on PBS because it was written by Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, but I didn't know much about it otherwise. Turns out Fellowes did a hack job on the novel which was very much more satisfying than the movie.

Louise Brooks made a name for herself as a silent film star in the 1920s but in 1922 she was just an unknown teenager from Wichita Kansas with a talent for modern dance. She was offered a place to study for the summer with the New York City dance company Denishawn but she needed a chaperone to accompany her. Cora Carlisle, who has her own reasons for wanting to go to New York City, offers to accompany her even though she doesn't really know Louise. Cora is married but her twin boys are almost adults and, at any rate, they are working away from home for the summer. So off Cora and Louise go by train from Wichita to New York City. Unbeknownst to anyone except her husband Cora was born in NYC and was raised in an orphanage there until she was put on an orphan train to the Midwest. She was lucky in that the couple that chose her were good and kind and did not take advantage of her. She was unlucky in that when she was just 17 the couple were killed in a farming accident. As she had never been formally adopted she was left out of the estate and that is how she met her husband, a lawyer who offered to represent her pro bono. Although Cora wrote to the orphanage to ask for information the nuns who ran it told her they could not divulge any information about her parents. Cora believes that once she is in NYC she will be able to access information and perhaps even find her parents. In order to do that she has to ride herd on Louise who is a wilful brat. Louise has no use for Cora but she does know that Cora could return with her to Wichita if she gives her too much trouble. And Louise really wants to stay because she loves to dance.

Cora is an interesting character and she seemed much more real in the book than she did in the film. I found a lot of the information about the fashion of the times and the limited role of most women to be some of the best parts of the book. One detail remains stuck in my mind: On the train to NYC Cora's book drops on the floor of the train carriage. Because of her corset she is unable to bend over and pick it up but Louise has disappeared and can't do it for her. Cora goes off to find Louise who is at a table in the dining car with two strange men. Cora is furious with Louise and has to give her a tongue-lashing about preserving her reputation. And then she has to ask Louise to retrieve her book for her. I had never really considered before what a constriction wearing a corset would have on a woman's movements. Thank goodness we have left those instruments of torture behind us.

The WHS put out a call for donations of good condition used books for their Curbside Pickup Book Sale so I thought I would drop this book and a few others off when I pick up my bundle of books.

When you find a BookCrossing book it is yours to do with what you like. You can read it and keep it or pass it on or if you don't think it is your kind of book pass it on to someone who might like it or release it in a spot for someone else to find like you just did. Whatever you choose it would be great if you could write a short note letting us know what new adventures the book is on.