Rating: 
Summary: The going thing
Review: It seems to be quite the thing nowadays to write a book set in a different time, mix in some historical facts for added interest, devise a plot, and come up with something that the publishers think is catchy. The Da Vinci Code, Pompeii, and a host of others come to mind. And if you really want some punch, add a great work of art--again, Da Vinci.But The Lady and the Unicorn is different and the most obvious thing that sets it apart from these "others" is the writing style. That and the fact that the tapestries are actually (pardon) "woven" into the story. With so many other books, these "add-ins" are just that--added in. In most cases they have virtually nothing to do with the actual plot and at best are distracting. Again, not the case with Chevalier's lastest book. In this intriguing novel, everything comes together as a whole. The characters are well-drawn, and the pacing of the book is handled with craftsmanship. I give one big "Kudos" to Chevalier for this little gem. Also recommended: Girl With the Pearl Earring, Bark of the Dogwood, Drop City
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Summary: COLORFUL, COMPELLING READINGS
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Great Summer Read
Review: Ahhhhh, this book is sooooo good. I loved it and gobbled it up so quickly, I was sad when I finished. It is romantic and gentle and violent and crazy all at the same time and its about tapestries! Who'd have thought it could be so funny and sad and surprising all at the same time. I definitely recommend this book, it is a great summer read.
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Summary: historical fiction about tapestries is actually interesting!
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: Skillfully woven tale
Review: Tracy Chevalier once again demonstrates her ability to write about a famous work of art while making its history come alive. In "The Lady and the Unicorn" she provides a fictionalized account of the creation of a series of famous medieval tapestries which currently are on display in a museum in Paris. Although the origin of the tapestries is unknown, including who commissioned them, when they were created, or who crafted them, the author does an excellent job of weaving together whatever facts are known, along with some supposition and a generous thread of imagination, to create an entertaining tale. Artist Nicolas des Innocents, a womanizer who usually paints miniatures and coats of arms, is commissioned by the nobleman Jean Le Viste to design some tapestries to glorify the family's status at Court. He is originally asked to create a battle scene, but the design evolves into the story of a lady seducing a unicorn. Although Nicolas is the protagonist around whom the action pivots, the first-person narrative continually shifts between Nicolas, the Le Viste family, and the family of the weaver that produces the tapestries. Because of the profusion of characters and subplots, this novel is not as focused as "Girl with a Pearl Earring" but it is still fascinating. The story contains many facts about how tapestries were made. Beneath the book's paper jacket, one of the actual tapestries is displayed across the front and back cover. I found myself continually peering under the jacket to study its details as I read about the use of color, weaving techniques, plants and animals, and symbolism. The story also provides an interesting description of life in late 15th century Paris and Brussels, including class distinctions and role of women in medieval society. I recommend it for both art lovers and fans of historical fiction. Eileen Rieback
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Summary: great tapestry research and historical info
Review: I think I have now read all of Tracy Chevalier's novels and this one kept me as wrapped up in the characters as all of the rest. At first I wasn't sure I would like a novel about tapestry weaving but I was deeply wound up in every aspect of the skill. I, too, kept looking at the cover of the book as I was reading to examine the tapestry as the story depicted on it unfolded. The characters were all interesting and woven into the tapestry/story in such a way that even the "bad guys" had a good side. Although I thought I knew how each "scene" would play out Ms. Chevalier wrote in some twists that made me not want to put the book down. I have to see if there are any other books she has written that I may have missed. Great summer read.
Rating: 
Summary: good idea, sloppy writing
Review: I loved the idea of The Lady and the Unicorn--the time period, the changing points of view, a fiction inspired by a real work of art--and I have enjoyed previous novels by Tracy Chevalier. But Chevalier's writing is getting pretty sloppy. She overwrites and tells the reader what she means instead of showing the reader. For example, she feels the need to tell the reader reapeatedly and explicitly how obsessed the daughter of the nobleman is with the painter, when she could have shown it with the actions of the characters to much better and more subtle effect. It is as if she does not trust her reader to figure it out. Her writing in this novel has also begun to verge on soft porn--meant to excite but not really exciting, perhaps just a ploy to reel in readers. The almost soft porn might be okay, except that it is not believable--I do not believe that some of these characters in these times would do such things so quickly and easily, without a second thought.
Rating:
Summary: Sheer talent
Review: The sheer amount of talent that Chevalier has is staggering. Her fame could have rested solely on GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, and if she had written nothing else she would probably be remembered as a great writer. But given the enormous out put she's produced, it's fair to say she'll be around for quite a while. THE LADY AND THE UNICORN is my second Chevalier book, and while it wasn't as perfect as "Girl," it does come in a close second. Stellar writing and a great plot make this wonderfully constructed piece well worh the money. Would also recommend two other book which I thoroughly enjoyed: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and BIRTH OF VENUS. Both are great reads and on the same level as Chevalier's works.
Rating:
Summary: Each thread in the tapestry
Review: _The Lady and the Unicorn_ treads on familiar territory. Like Chevalier's celebrated _Girl with a Pearl Earring_, the novel takes a well-known piece of art and creates an elaborate story around it. This novel focuses on the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in the Cluny Museum in Paris. Chevalier researched their history, as well as the history of tapestry production for the book, and the reader is granted with the great opporunity to learn more about this lost art. Chevalier's story is narrated by seven different characters at different stages in the tapestries' production. The painter, and designer of the tapestries, Nicholas des Innocents, plays the prominent role in the narratives because he is the link between the patrons, in Paris, whom the tapestry is being made for, and the weavers in Brussels, who work tirelessly to produce the panels. The patrons are a wealthy noble family who commission the tapestry to celebrate their daughter's betrothal. The weaver family in Brussels are working-class laborers who are very skilled in their craft. Each character plays an important role, and therefore becomes part of the tapestry and its methaphorical story. Chevalier takes special care with each of her characters and exposes their thoughts, feelings and desires.
Rating:
Summary: Simple and Compelling
Review: Tracy Chevalier uses the same idea she had in "Girl With A Pearl Earring", of taking a famous painting and imagining the story behind it's creation. A series of woven tapestries that hangs today in a museum in Paris, she blends the stories of the various weavers, artists, and noblemen who all are connected in one way or another to the art. Having not read "Pearl Earring" I found the book creative and refreshing. What essentially amounts to threaded short stories are compelling pieces with interesting characters, as well as a side bar education in a near forgotten art form.
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