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The Lady and the Unicorn (Chevalier, Tracy)
 
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The Lady and the Unicorn (Chevalier, Tracy) (Hardcover)

by Tracy Chevalier (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 250 pages
  • Publisher: Dutton Books (Jan 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0525947671
  • ISBN-13: 978-0525947677
  • Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 15 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 357,412 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #20 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > C > Chevalier, Tracy

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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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

'A beautifully written tale, I could not put it down...an exquisite, moving and convincing story, drawing realistic and rounded characters who each tell their aspect of the tale. The theme of the five senses is woven into the plot so cleverly that our perception of the novel is sharpened...This is not just a novel about the creation of a work of art, but a tale of ambition, lust, betrayal and heartbreak...a compelling and enormously enjoyable work.' Evening Standard'The Lady and the Unicorn will perhaps eclipse Pearl Earring.' Guardian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

46 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (12)
3 star:
 (10)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (46 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Author has woven a beautiful tapestry of her own., 19 Sep 2003
By M.J. Rose "mjroseauthor" (Greenwich, Ct USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lady and the Unicorn (Hardcover)
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'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.

Tracy'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 and artful as the tapestries,

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

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39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Effortless storytelling, thrilling read, 23 Sep 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Lady and the Unicorn (Hardcover)
Looks like Tracy Chevalier's done it again.

This is the story of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in the Cluny museum in Paris. Like in Girl with a Pearl Earring, Chevalier has chosen a real work of art about which rather little is actually known, and woven a tale about what might have been the circumstances under which it was commissioned and created.
In Lady and the Unicorn, we enter into the world of 15th century Paris and Brussels but this is no boring history lesson. This story is full of jealousy and intrigue, passion and sex even. I'll certainly never look at blue tapestries in the same way - I could practically smell the reeking woad-dyer.
For me, this book is as successful as Girl With a Pearl Earring and more deftly told than Falling Angels. The voices are clearer and frankly, it's a happier read. I also found it more coherent than The Virgin Blue because it's all set in the same period and doesn't dot around between its historical setting and the modern day.

This really is a brilliant piece of writing. Recommended.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Ladies, unicorns and a leacherous tapestry designer!, 11 Aug 2005
This review is from: The Lady and the Unicorn (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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars 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 8 months ago by lily mandolin

1.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Pyhtia

1.0 out of 5 stars 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 16 months ago by Maaian

4.0 out of 5 stars 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 17 months ago by Lawyeraau

2.0 out of 5 stars 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 20 months ago by Bookworm1973

5.0 out of 5 stars do not read in a bus, you can easily miss your stop!
Very absorbing book, could not put it down. Similarly to Girl with a Pearl Earing, relatively thin book provides a big story. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Amber

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page-Turner
I loved this book, far better in my opinion than 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring'. The way the author weaves her story around The Unicorn Tapestries is both fascinating and I... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Bookworm

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
after reading the girl with the pearl earring and falling angels, and absolutely falling in love with chevaliers writing, i decided to invest in a few more of chevaliers book, and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by beans

3.0 out of 5 stars Beguiling historical saga
I'm glad I read The Lady and the Unicorn. It's an enjoyable, easy to read historical saga surrounding the love lives of those involved in the production of a (real) series of... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Rivercassini

3.0 out of 5 stars Not her best
This is an okay book, but strangely nowhere near what this author can produce. Perhaps this time around she's gone too far back in history. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2007 by daisyrock

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