- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; Export ed edition (1 Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007172281
- ISBN-13: 978-0007172283
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,591,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Lady and the Unicorn
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
If you think you wouldn't raise your skirts for a rakish legend about the purifying powers of a unicorn's horn, then maybe you aren't a 15th-century serving girl under the sway of a velvet-tongued court painter of ill repute. In keeping with her bestselling Girl with a Pearl Earring, and its Edwardian-era follow-up, Falling Angels, Tracy Chevalier's tale of artistic creation and late-medieval amours, The Lady and the Unicorn is a subtle study in social power and the conflicts between love and duty. Nicolas des Innocents has been commissioned by the Parisian nobleman Jean Le Viste to design a series of large tapestries for his great hall (in real life, the famous Lady and the Unicorn cycle, now in Paris's Musee National du Moyen-Age Thermes de Cluny). While Nicolas is measuring the walls, he meets a beautiful girl who turns out to be Jean Le Viste's daughter. Their passion is impossible for their world--so forbidden, given their class differences, that its only avenue of expression turns out to be those magnificent tapestries. The historical evidence on which this story is based is slight enough to allow the full play of Chevalier's imagination in this cleverly woven tale. --Regina Marler, Amazon.com
Review
'Tracy Chevalier gives the kiss of life to the historical novel.' Independent
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tracy Chevalier is a brilliant storyteller. In The Lady and the Unicorn, just as in Girl with a Pearl Earing, she uses a real work of art as the basis for a fictional story. We are presented with the contrasting home life of a family of tapestry weavers (poor but cheerful and busy) and the Le Vistes in their castle (wealthy but depressed and tedious). You might think the plot sounds fairly twee and predictable, but in fact the story is absorbing. Nicolas is a rogue but I liked him anyway, if only for bringing excitement, repressed though it may be in some cases, into the lives of the women. The oppression of the richer women was striking.
Chevalier's powers of description are superb - she makes it possible for her reader to step back in time. Although the book is set in medieval times, the historical detail is not too overwhelming. The story unfolds at a gentle pace, making it a relaxing read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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 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.
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Lady and the Unicorn reminded me of the bawdy stories in the Decameron and the Canterbury Tales translated into a novel about the creation of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. With each chapter the narrator shifts so you get a better sense of each character's personality and history.
The book has two remarkable strengths that were not sustained throughout. First, the book opens with constant surprises. Each chapter quickly takes you off in a new direction that makes the book's development a delight. Second, you receive a nice briefing on how tapestries were conceived, commissioned, designed and executed. If the book had continued its focus on these elements, this would have been a remarkably good book. But, alas, the story bogged down into too much detail about the fictional lives of the tapestry makers and the commissioner's family. Those shifts turned an intriguing book into a soap-opera like story line. Ultimately, the book resolves its tensions in ways that few will find pleasing or very interesting. So you go from a five star opening to about a two star ending. But the beginning is so brilliant that you should read the book. For happiest reading, you can stop after page 126.
Every good novel has at least one arresting character. In The Lady and the Unicorn that character is Alienor de la Chapelle. I won't say more because you should read about her to form your own opinions. But do be on the lookout when she appears in the book.
Nicolas des Innocents, the artist, on the other hand is a pig. I would have enjoyed the story more if he had been a spiritually uplifted character rather than a roué.
Find beauty all around you!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Another Chevalier masterpiece
I have read all of Tracy Chevalier's books and am a great fan of her work. I have given most of her books 5 stars, without hesitation, but this is the one that I enjoyed the least... Read more
Published 9 months ago by DubaiReader
Characters You Just Want to Slap
This is the first of Chevalier's books I've read, but I've heard good things about her and am a historical fiction fan. To be honest, I doubt I'd read her again. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Klytaimestra
The Lady and the Unicorn
This book was picked at the book reading club I go to. It was a very enjoyable read. Tracy Chevalier describes the characters very well without getting bogged down. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mary WHITTAKER
Skillfully woven tale
Good read and very interesting way to learn about the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, of which I wasn't aware before reading this. Read more
Published 22 months ago by madaboutbooks
A Really Good Read
I was given this book by a friend a few years ago now, but didn't get around to reading it until now. Read more
Published on 16 April 2010 by Mrs R
A reasonable read
To be honest, not one of Tracy Chevalier's best but despite not being that keen tapestries, I was still expecting to be entertained. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2009 by lily mandolin
Its a book and it's fiction
I suppose I should have known - it was recommended by my mother "it's quite good actually" the faint praise should have rung louder in my ears
Well "the Lady and the Unicorn"... Read more
Well "the Lady and the Unicorn"... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2009 by Pyhtia
Dissapointing
I consider myself a big fan of Girl With A Pearl Earring and so decided to read The Lady And The Unicorn as it covers more or less the same ground but with a different work of... Read more
Published on 25 July 2008 by Maaian
A TAPESTRY OF MEDIEVAL LIFE AND ART...
Once again, Tracy Chevalier, author of a number of well-written works of historical fiction, lets her imagination run wild, weaving her story around another actual work of art. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2008 by Lawyeraau
very disappointing
I bought this on the basis of the positive reviews. Clearly loads of people love it so perhaps you will too, but I suggest you think twice if you prefer classic or challenging... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2008 by Bookworm1973
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