The Lady and the Unicorn

Paris, 1490. A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house mother and daughter, servant, and lady-in-waiting before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. There, master weaver Georges de la Chapelle risks everything he has to finish the tapestries his finest, most intricate work on time for his exacting French client. The results change all their lives lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look.

In The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier weaves fact and fiction into a beautiful, timeless, and intriguing literary tapestry an extraordinary story exquisitely told.

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"Bewitching art experts and enthusiasts alike for centuries, the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries hang today in the Cluny Museum in Paris. In each, an elegant lady and a unicorn stand or sit on an island of grass surrounded by a rich background of animals and flowers. Little is known about them except that they were woven toward the end of the fifteenth century and bear the coat of arms of a wealthy family from Lyons. Tracy Chevalier takes readers back to the tapestries' creation, giving life to the men who designed and made them, as well as the wives, daughters, and servants who exercised subtle (and not so subtle) influences over their men. Like the many different strands of wool and silk that were woven together into one cloth, the lives and fates of these people entwine in complex patterns, crisscrossing as they seek desires sensual and spiritual, temporal and eternal. An extraordinary story exquisitely told, Tracy Chevalier's The Lady and the Unicorn weaves history and fiction into a beautiful, timeless, and intriguing literary tapestry that rivals in grace and grandeur the masterpiece that inspired it."

I bought this book on audio, and there are two shortcomings that keep me from giving it a higher rating, one inherent in the book itself, the other having to do with the audio reading. The first problem I have with the book is that it often reads like a bad romance novel, especially when dealing with the sexual awakening of Claude. Yes, she is a 14 year-old girl and we are hearing or reading, as the case may be, her point of view, but everytime I heard these passages I kept imagining a paperback with Fabio on the cover. I almost got into an accident driving and listening to this book as I was giggling pretty hard in places. The book is also quite repetitive and felt rather short, more like a padded novella.

The issue I had with the audio version had to do with Robert Blumenfeld's reading of some of the male roles. The protagonist of the book, Nicolas des Innocents is supposed to be arrogant and conceited, especially in his attitude toward women and non-Parisians. But Blumenfeld reads Nicolas' passages in such an oozingly snobby and condescending voice, that is hard to imagine him seducing any woman, let alone the many of this book. The general snobby quality of his voice also comes through with some of the other characters and doesn't always suit them so well, although he does better with the secondary characters. It is especially noticable because Terry Donnelly, who reads the female voices, does such a marvelous job. She sounds like a girl on the brink of womanhood when reading Claude's thoughts, she sounds like a weary middle-aged noblewoman when reading the passages narrated by Claude's mother, Genivieve, and she sounds like a wise working-class woman when reading as the weaver's wife. It's such a wonderful performance that Blumenfeld's just doesn't hold up to it, especially since the sound quality on his parts isn't as good.

In short, this a great book for someone interested in Renaissance art and life and is basically good. If you are interested in women in the middle ages and the Renaissance in Europe and want to listen on audio, I'd recommend instead Barnes and Noble's series of audio tapes of books by Alison Weir, including her book on Eleanor of Acquitaine and the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. They are extremely well-written and wonderfully narrated. Had I not heard these series, I might have enjoyed "The Lady and the Unicorn" audio book more, but having heard great books about the era, I can only rate this one as merely good.


historical fiction about tapestries is actually interesting!   March 29, 2004
Joe Sherry (Minnesota)
36 out of 38 found this review helpful

"The Lady in the Unicorn" is Tracy Chevalier's fourth novel. She is the author of the best selling (and recently a major motion picture) "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Tracy Chevalier seems to write the same sort of novel each time, but because the subjects are different, the ways the novels play out are different. The technique that Chevalier uses is that she takes a painting that I presume she likes (or is just interested in). She learns as much of the backstory of the painting as possible and then writes a fictional novel about how this painting came about and who the artist and subjects are. In the two Chevalier novels I have read now, this has turned out to be much more interesting than it may at first sound.

The story in "The Lady and the Unicorn" is set in 15th Century Paris and Brussels. Nicolas des Innocents has been commissioned to create a set of tapestries for a minor member of the French nobility Jean Le Viste. This seems simple enough: Commission, Paint, Weave, Complete. What sets this novel apart is in the telling. Nicolas is a talented artist, but rather arrogant about his art. He mainly paints miniatures in great detail and has never had to design a tapestry (it takes a different sort of skill to design a tapestry). But Nicolas is also a lusty man. Months prior he had impregnated a maid at Le Viste's estate and this time he has his eye on a young woman named Claude. It also seems that Claude has her eye on Nicolas. There wouldn't be any trouble (or much) if it didn't turn out that Claude is Jean Le Viste's eldest daughter and heir to the estate. Now any tryst must be secret, but Claude's mother knows something is afoot so she works to keep them apart so Claude may keep her virginity and be an eligible bride with the estate as a dowry.

The scene later shifts to the weavers who will actually make the tapestries. Nicolas defies all custom and is personally involved in nearly all aspects of the making of the tapestries. He is no less lusty now that he is away from Claude, but we get to see more of his character as this section of the novel progresses. Throughout the novel we see how Nicolas's inspiration for the tapestry evolves and why he is creating the tapestries quite the way that he is. We get glimpses into the lives of the weavers, Nicolas, as well as Claude. This novel is told with multiple narrators in such a way that the shift in narration feels appropriate and smooth and these shifts serve to better advance the story and keep it moving along.

The opening of "The Lady and the Unicorn" felt a little crude with Nicolas's crass sexual interest in Claude, but as the novel wore on there became fewer crass lines and everything felt natural. For a novel about tapestries (but really about relationships), this one was fairly fast paced. Considering the quality of both "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Lady and the Unicorn", I think I'm going to have to give Chevalier's other two novels a try. This one was well worth the read.


A Richly Woven Tapestry   January 1, 2004
Patrick O'Brien (Los Angeles, CA)
20 out of 22 found this review helpful

I didn't like Tracy Chevalier's book, "Girl With a Pearl Earring," and I didn't read the other two, so I was a little reluctant to buy this book. I love the Lady and Unicorn tapestries in the Cluny Museum in Paris so much, though, that I couldn't resist. I'm glad I didn't.

Chevalier's writing is still spare and straightforward and I was happy to see that, but her sense of character and the richness she adds to her plot strands has increased many times over.

This is a lovely book, filled with fully-realized characters and a beautifully-woven plot...almost as beautiful as the tapestries in the Cluny. Chevalier has certainly used her imagination well in giving us a story about how these beautiful tapestries might have come about. I felt like I was really transported back to France (and Brussels) during the fifteenth century. Chevalier hasn't skimped on the details and it's the details that make this book so lovely.

I enjoyed this book and, although not an artist, I am a lover of art. I think anyone who loves art, France, tapestries or beautifully-told romantic tales will love "The Lady and the Unicorn." I recommend it highly.


COLORFUL, COMPELLING READINGS   January 5, 2004
Gail Cooke (TX, USA)
18 out of 21 found this review helpful

Tracy Chevalier charmed and intrigued audiences with "Girl With A Pearl Earring" and "Falling Angels." She continues her winning ways with "The Lady and the Unicorn," a fascinating part fact, part imaginative account of one of the world's masterpieces.

She attributes her interest in this particular work of art to an early interest in unicorns. She called it a "teenage craze" saying, "I had books, posters, stickers, jewelry.......In one of the books were illustrations of the six Lady and the Unicorn tapestries that hang in the Museum of the Middle Ages (aka Cluny Museum) in Paris. I thought they were very beautiful, and made sure to see them when I visited Paris at the age of 20. After that I forgot about them."

Fortunately for the world she was reminded of them when she read an article in 1999. Her curiosity about their origins was piqued, and she set to work. Inspiration, as most creative artists know, can be a blessing or a devilment. Ms. Chevalier is blessed, and we are the beneficiaries.

We are also the beneficiaries of superb performances by two gifted vocal artist on both Unabridged versions of this story. Seen on television in The Equalizer, As The World Turns, and Sesame Street, accomplished stage actor Robert Blumenfeld brings characters, especially the willful Nicholas, to vibrant life. An apt partner for him is Terry Donnelly who has performed at Dublin's Abbey Theatre and on the New York stage.

For those unfamiliar with the tapestries they present what appears to be a woman seducing a unicorn. While these works have long been admired, virtually nothing is known of their provenance. Enter the fecund imagination of Ms. Chevalier who recreates Paris in 1490 where lives a rather haughty French nobleman with his family. To underscore his importance at court the nobleman retains the talented, lascivious artist Nicholas de Innocents to design six extravagant tapestries.

The nobleman's household is never the same once Nicholas arrives. He uses the noble's wife, Genevieve, and lovely daughter, Claude, as models. Almost upon seeing Claude he falls madly in love but his suit is hopeless.

Once his paintings are completed he takes them to Brussels and master-weaver George de la Chapelle demanding perfection in every stitch.

Tracy Chevalier is a magician who seamlessly blends fact and fiction into colorful, romantic, compelling stories. "The Lady and the Unicorn" is one more.

- Gail Cooke


The Author Weaves a Beautiful Tapestry of Her Own.   January 11, 2004
M.J. Rose (Greenwich, Ct USA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I read this novel on my vacation in Paris and on the day I finished it I went to the Cluny Museum to see the Tapestries for myself. I'd seen them ten years ago, but seeing them again, after reading Tracy Chevalier's book brought them to life in a way that was utterly magical.

As she did with The Girl With the Pearl Earring, (but even better this time since she has matured as a writer) the author takes a classic work of art and artfully spins a tale inspired by the original which becomes an original itself.

That the actual art work exists adds to the magic. The magic adds to the actual art work.

Chevalier's imagination, her grasp of history, her attention to the senses, to details, to the soul of both artists, artisans and lovers are all as lovely as the tapestries.

Not a stich is missing, not a word is extraneous or misplaced. Bravo.