The Involuntary Chaperon

Margaret Cameron

Jan 1909 · Harper

Ratings and reviews

Seventeen year old Berenice Ames has had the misfortune to fall in love with a man considered unsuitable by her parents, so they send her along with her uncle Beverley as he conducts a business trip through South America, chaperoned by a friend of the family, middle-aged widow Anne Pomeroy. This epistolary novel is a travelogue of the journey through the eyes of Anne, as they steam from port to port down the west coast of the continent and back up the east coast, while Berenice alternately sulks and is courted by the Englishman, Mr Gaveston, much to Anne's dismay. The bulk of the story is about the details of steamer accommodations and baggage handling, sightseeing and expat social engagements, but Anne's narration is so charming that the book is hard to put down.