Embrace Purity

Give Obedience

Abstain from Sin

Respect your Chaperone

Navigate the World with Care

These are just some of the rules of New America, and what 17 year old Stella Graham has had to live by her whole life. Stella lives with her little sister, mother and powerful and wealthy father. She has everything she could want at her fingertips – except freedom.

At 11 she received her first chaperone. Sister Helen was there to protect her, make sure she followed the rules the Minute Men (leaders) laid down, and that the Constables enforce with fervour and fear.

Stella watches her mother cook and bow to her father’s firm guidance and tries to follow her lead. But the older she gets, and the more she sees on her forbidden time through the internet, more questions arise in her mind. When her beloved Sister Helen dies suddenly, Stella is bereft – especially when the Constables are taking a close interest in Sister’s Helen’s death. It was a heart attack. Wasn’t it?

A new chaperone is provided by the authorities of New America. Stella refuses to believe she could ever be as close to Sister Laura as she was with Sister Helen, but this new chaperone is different. Stella soon learns more about the world in a few months, than she did in years from Sister Helen. Things to protect herself, and things to think about. And most shockingly of all, who her father really is.

Her life is about to change forever, and the challenge to also change other’s lives is too important to ignore.

This will undoubtedly be labelled a young adult Handmaid’s Tale, as the control factor from men and the total subservience of woman is present in this dystopian novel.

 Comparisons aside, The Chaperone is a gripping read. Stella is an engaging character, and her slow realisation of a world beyond what she has always known is gradual and authentic. Like many teenagers, she wants to escape the confines of home, experience the world, and wonders what it will be like to kiss the boy at school she likes.

The chaperones begin as a dark force under control by powerful men and strictly enforced rules, but an undercurrent of defiance grows stronger throughout the novel. Stella’s discovery of normal teenage behaviour and a whole new world is innocent and curious. This morphs into rage and the courage to begin taking back some control for womankind.

I cheered Stella through her journey, cringing when she cringed, holding my breath when she did, and heart pumping as she ran. 

Great read!

Author – M Hendrix

Age – 15+

(2023, Source Books, Dystopian Society, Control, Rules, Fear, Arranged Marriage, Men controlling women, Subservience, Questions, Lies, Murder, Escape, Rebellion, Resistance, Family, Love, Secret, School, Courage, Bullies, )