The Lady and the Unicorn

Rating:
Summary: The story behind the Unicorn Tapestries
Review: This, the fourth novel by Tracy Cheavalier, is a pleasant excursion into art history. Set in fifteen century Paris and Brussells, it tells the author's imagined backstory to the creation of the famous Unicorn tapestries now in the Cluny Museum. Beginning in the household of the socially striving noble who commissions the pieces, the author soon shifts to the household of the weaver who will execute them. Linking both families together is the artist Nicholas, talented in both portraiture and seduction. His interactions with the females of both households and how they affect the shape of the final tapestry form the core of the story. Included in the story proper is some fascinating material on the techniques used by the weavers, the hidden meaning of the Unicorn Tapestry's images, and on life in the period.

Chevalier tells her story through the alternating perspectives of the major characters. This seems to be her standard operating procedure, since she's used it in her previous novels. Although it presents an occasional problem of keeping the characters straight, it's an effective method in Chevalier's hands. By alternating narrators, she's able to give more rounded pictures of her characters and to describe events through one character that other characters don't yet know.

Chevalier writes strong characters who occasionally act in unexpected ways. Nicholas, for example, is a first rate cad, but through his actions provides the means by which another character escapes from an unwanted marriage. Claude, the headstrong older daughter and heir of the Parisian noble, ends up exacting a special kind of revenge on the artist. At 250 pages, this is not a long book, but the author's characters are well limned.

"The Lady and the Unicorn" is by no means a great masterpiece, but it is a very worthwhile read. It goes quickly, but there's more depth than meets the eye. Plot twists, the lore of the unicorn, and Chevalier's strong characters made this one memorable for me.


Rating:
Summary: Great and original
Review: This book was very good and different. I loved the idea of the story and was totally taken away to a very different time in history. It really was a very sensual story. I was captivated and kept looking at the inside cover at the tapestry. I would definatly recommend this quick read.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and thrilling
Review: I love historical fiction and I just love this book. I do have to confess that it took me awhile to get into the story lines ~~ but once I got more into the book, the stories woven together managed to draw me into the lives of the characters. There is Nicolas, the artist, who gets a commission to draw the paintings for the tapesteries for an upcoming noble man. There he falls in love with the nobleman's daughter, Claude. There is the relationship, strained as it is, between Claude and her mother. There is the housemaid who Nicolas impregnated. There is Beatrice, waiting lady first to the mother then to the daughter. There is the family in Brussels, whose lives are forever changed once Nicolas entered it. All of these stories are woven together in a span of a couple of years ~~ and little do they know that their actions influence each other whether they are in Brussels or in Paris.

It is a compelling look into history as well ~~ and a wonderful story of those who make their living off the looms. It is a mixture of nobility and merchant class that have come together in this novel. Once you pick up this book, you will not be able to put it down. All of the stories draw you into the characters' lives and dreams.

I enjoyed "Girl with a Pearl Earring" immensely ~~ read it long before it became a top seller. I enjoy this one just as well ~~ and wished I had picked it up sooner. It's a great book to escape into ~~ the descriptions of the Lady and the Unicorn are just wonderful that I can see it in my own mind. This book is another must-read for those who like art and history.

10-15-04