The Lady and the Unicorn

A wonderful book. Having only read 'The Virgin Blue' (which I adored) this was very different and will certainly have me racing out for her other books. Speaking of racing, this book will certaily do that to your heart rate! It's sauciness at it's best. Nicolas des Innocents is certainly not what

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his name suggests; he is a fifteenth century naughty boy! As a Parisian painter of portraits he is bewildered when he is asked to design some tapestries for Jean Le Viste (a nobleman close to the King).

One look at Le Viste's daughter Claude and he is in love, big style. They are almost caught in the act and because of this he (and she) are kept under close watch. He is dragged into the families unsettled relationships and lives. We then meet the actual weaver and his family during Nicolas' journeys to Brussells. He acts out his desires a few times more there with the resulting consequences not quite being what you expect. During the time it takes to make the tapestries we know a lot about all of the characters from themselves.

Wonderful prose, made all the better with each chapter being picked up by another character. A trait I don't always enjoy but it really worked in this novel. The description and feelings Chevalier evokes are a pleasure and this book should be a fabulous journey with a satisfying ending.

The tapestries described are gorgeous, made more so at the hands of Chevalier. It is a heady mix of art, history and fiction. Chevalier has made it as accurately possible with the facts available to her but admits that some parts have had to be changed in the interests of fiction namely because all of the details weren't available to her. I don't feel it matters as you still get the essence of how devine tapestries like this would be. It is testiment to her imagination that we get to see the story behind a set of them.

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Once again Tracy Chevalier shows she can write about art in a way that makes you not only want to view the topic of her book but helps you to understand and appreciate it. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are the subject of this book. There was an intense discussion of the oppression of women,

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and all of the lower classes in the 15th century. I'm always amazed when I can like a book and thoroughly dislike its main characters. Both the artist and the young girl about whom he obsesses are very deficient in character. The only people with whom the reader has any sympathy are the artisans, and they bring the tapestries to life. I would be tempted to overlook the mille-fleurs, but Chevalier shows just how much thought was put into placing the right flowers in these tapestries that exemplify the 5 senses touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell while they also show the seduction of an innocent and the accumulation or rejection of worldly goods. It seems Chevalier is a master of any subject she pursues.

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Disappointing. The best thing about this book was how short it is (the only reason I finished). Again—as seems to be a pattern in my reading lately—I hated most of the main characters, and as much as I liked the premise built around those tapestries, I really don't feel like I would have missed

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anything by not reading it. I've read much better medieval fiction by Karen Cushman and Rebecca Barnhouse, and those were young adult books.

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While it was an interesting story and I liked the way she developed the story line from different perspectives I really didn't care for most of the characters enough to love the book.

A fictionalized account of the weaving of the Unicorn tapestries that are now in the Museum at Cluny, France, a series of six depicting the romancing of a unicorn by a lady. Woven through the story of their creation are the stories of the wife and daughter of the wealthy aristocrat who commissions

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them, Jean LeViste, and their life – mostly in Paris – and the lives of the weaver, Georges De La Chapelle, his wife Christine, their blind daughter Alienor in Brussels as they work on the creation of the tapestries. Appearing in both locations is the talented artist, Nicolas Des Innocents, a painter and the creator of the concept of the Unicorn Tapestries, who is less than admirable at the beginning of the story. The individual chapters are all told in first person narratives by different characters.

Nicolas beds whatever girl he is able to work into the horizontal and has no feeling for them afterward. At the very beginning, he encounters a servant girl in the LeViste household who is in danger of losing her place because he has impregnated her. His idea of shouldering responsibility is to toss a few coins her way. Doubtless, this is the way such matters were usually handled during the 15th/16th century when servant girls found themselves in a fix, but it does not help me to like Nicolas. He takes a liking to the eldest daughter of his patron and plans to seduce her – an easy task, for the girl’s hormones are raging – but never gets the chance. Even later on when Nicolas travels to Brussels to help with execution of the tapestries he is arrogant and dismissive both of the work the weavers do and of Brussels itself. Fortunately, time and circumstances do something toward redeeming Nicolas in my eyes, but Chevalier does not try to impose our standards upon him, nor for that matter upon any of the other characters. Their time and place dictate the way their stories turn out and I like that.

I liked the chapters concerning Genevieve and Claude LeViste, the mother and eldest daughter of Jean’s household well enough, but I truly liked the ones concerning the Chapelle family in Brussels – in particular the blind Alienor – the best. Poor Alienor is being pursued by the woad-maker (woad is a blue dye), Jaques LeBoeuf, who smells revoltingly – and eternally - of sheep piss – the down side of his trade. He wants to marry her and badgers her parents to agree to it. They do not want to make Alienor unhappy, but after all she is damaged and LeBoeuf being their source for woad – well, business is business. But not to worry. Alienor has a solution to her problem.

I think I have read reviews somewhere where the reviewer found the copious descriptions of how the tapestries were woven tedious, but I did not find that they took away from my enjoyment of the book. This book is not the same as Girl With A Pearl Earring, but I liked it just as well.

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Extremely disappointing. I really like the premise of basing a novel on a work of art, and trying to connect with the humans who created these works of art. However, the plot is really contrived, the characters are flat and inexplicable (why do all the women keep sleeping with that guy?! he's such

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a creep!), and it could have been better-researched.

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My initial assessment of The Lady and the Unicorn remained true throughout the rest of the book. It was alright, but not the good piece of historical fiction I was expecting. The best parts were when we’re taken to Brussels (home of the lissier and his family) and get inside the heads of the

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people who live there. Alienor was my favorite character, she’s charming, stubborn, sympathetic, and independant. She makes her own future to save herself from a dismal life with a man she cannot stand. She is the true central part of this book, but she doesn’t emerge until a third of the way through. If it had been more about her and her family, I think I would have liked it better.

We’re intially introduced to Jean Le Viste and his family; his daughter Claude is one of the main characters in the beginning, but a) she’s not very likeable, and b) she disappears for the whole middle section of the book and only surfaces briefly once before the very end. Additionally, the character of Nicolas has some motivational problems. On one hand, he’s an arogant, cheap womanizer who seduces anything with breasts and can’t wait to “plow” Claude in her fathers house. On the other, he’s a likeable, charming, struggling painter who saves Alienor from a life of misery. Make up your mind, fellow.

I felt that the language was a little too obnoxious at parts, especially with the times of prayers and the holidays. Sext, May Day, Ascension Day, Candlemas? These mean nothing to me so it’s hard to tell what the real passing of time is. I understand they’re part of the language, so I got over it, but toward the end they resurfaced a lot. And the characters voices and language when they were talking to each other also seemed unrealistic at times.

There’s a clear plot device (petite Claude) that is meant to shock the reader; but we’re not stupid and it falls flat. Overall, I wasn’t a fan, nor was I wholly disappointed with this book. It wouldn’t be the first one I’d recommed, but I’ve read worse.

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Another well written tale in which Chevalier makes the art come alive. While I think it would be nearly impossible to ever replicate the exquisiteness and sensualness of "The Girl with the Pearl Earring," this book comes close. It has an intriguing story and is told with a fine eye to the

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historical period in which it is set. Highly recommended.

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I liked this much better than Virgin Blue, but not as much as Pearl Earring. I felt that although the characters were drawn well and I cared about them, there was no intimacy. In Pearl Earring, I felt close to the heroine, that her pain was my pain. In this, I don’t as closely identify with

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anyone.

Nicholas is a jerk, through and through. We learn from the outset that he’ll try to screw (or plow as he so elegantly puts it) anything in skirts. What an asshole. But he’s talented so people put up with him. Sounds like familiar territory. The details of guilds and weaving and the running of the shop were interesting although I have no idea how accurate any of it was. The central family is very tight-knit and it was enjoyable to read about how they looked out for each other and protected each other. The whole was just as important as the individual, something you rarely see now.

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Because we visited the Cluny Museum in Paris, this story was especially interesting. I had not expected it to be that good just a romance novel kind of book so I was pleasantly surprised on how nicely the story wove together.
It is the story of the making of a panel of tapestries for the le Viste

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family.It centers arounf the artist Nicolas des Innocents and his association with women who make their way onto the tapesteries.
The tapesteries made by weavers in Brussels show the 5 senses and end in A mon seul desir which means different things to different people.

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Fictitious account of the history of the tapestry of the lady and the unicorn, in which the artist, Nicholas de Innocents, is commissioned by Jean Le Viste. The story involves Le Vistes family and the family that actually weaves the tapestry with Nicholas as the connection. Well written historical

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fiction and a love story to boot.

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A delightful and bawdy little romp - I read this very quickly but enjoyed the character development, even though I had trouble keeping straight who was who at times. She's a good writer because she describes things so you can see it and feel like you've experienced it.

I've read most of Tracy Chevalier's books and enjoyed this one immensely. I love the way she has taken an artistic work (in this case the tapestries) and created a story. I'm also impressed that she has made a 15th century novel seem so modern and relevant. I was fascinated by the process of how a

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tapestry would be commissioned, designed and then woven.

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I listened to it and absolutely loved it. Superbly done.
Informative and entertaining.

Again, I find that the most interesting part of her works is the portrait she creates of an era. This book painted a fascinating landscape of the world of the artisan in medieval Europe. In terms of actual story though, her books never seem to get off the ground. This one especially seems patchy

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and disjointed.

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Interesting read. Not as good as Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

I loved this book. I have always been intrigued with how artists manage to render their art and what thoughts go through their head. Of course we'll never actually know with some of these medieval artists but Tracy Chevalier does a fantastic job of building the characters in the time period so much

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so that you begin to just assume that how she writes it is exactly how it happens. The characters are charming and full of unexpected growth. I think it fits right in with something like Leonardo's Swans or Green Glass Mirror.

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Have I mentioned before that I *LOVE* this author? I've yet to read Girl with a Pearl Earring yet, but I love, love, loved The Virgin Blue and I loved this book as well. Set in 15th century France, young rake and artist, Nicholas des Innocents, takes a job designing and painting a tapestry for the

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Le Viste household. He then travels to Brussels to oversee the making of the tapetries by a family of weavers. In addition to the tapestries, Nicholas paints trouble for every character he encounters. I learned a lot about the time period and was enthralled by the story.

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A racy book, told from several points of view, imagining the backstory of the creation of a famous set of tapestries. The story follows a young painter who is a sexual predator, in his dealings with a noble French family & his visits to the weavers in Belgium. The sex is idealized & the story is

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slight, but it is readable & enjoyable.

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As fabulous as "Pearl" but with multiple points of view, which I'm a sucker for.

Once again, Chevalier brings a work of art to life by delving into the story of its making. Composed of bits from history, known facts about the parties involved, and fictional characters and events, she gives us a highly readable account of the creatation of tapestries in the fifteenth century.

The cover of this book is the most amazing I've ever seen (underneath the flap jacket) and when I opened it up I was SO not disappointed.

Good, but not as good as Girl with the Pearl Earring

Fascinating to learn about tapestry-making.