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    The Lady and the Unicorn
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    The Lady and the Unicorn
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    The Lady and the Unicorn
    Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

    The Lady and the Unicorn

    Written by Tracy Chevalier

    Narrated by Isla Blair and Jamie Glover

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The new novel from the author of the much-loved Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels.

    The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are a set of six medieval tapestries. Beautiful, intricate and expertly made, they are also mysterious in their origin and meaning.

    Tapestries give an appearance of order and continuity, as if designed and made by one person, belying the complicated process required to create them. Weavers, patrons, designers, artists, merchants and apprentices were involved in their making, and behind them were the wives, daughters and servants who exercised influences over their men. Like the many strands of wool and silk woven together into one cloth, so these people came together in a complex dance to create the whole picture.

    Jean le Viste, a newly wealthy member of the French court, commissions the tapestries to hang in his chateau. Nicolas, his chosen designer, meets le Viste's wife Genevieve and his daughter Claude, both of whom take a keen interest in the tapestries. From Paris, Nicolas moves to a weaver's workshop in Brussels. The creation of the tapestries brings together people who would not otherwise meet – their lives become entangled, and so do their desires. As they fall in love, are shunned, take revenge, find unrequited love, turn to the church or to pagan ideals, the tapestries become to each an ideal vision of life – yet all discover that they are unable to make this ideal world their own.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 15, 2005
    ISBN9780007219223
    Unavailable
    The Lady and the Unicorn
    Author

    Tracy Chevalier

    Tracy Chevalier is the author of eleven novels, including A Single Thread, Remarkable Creatures and Girl with a Pearl Earring, an international bestseller that has sold over five million copies and been made into a film, a play and an opera. Born in Washington DC, she moved to the United Kingdom in 1986. She and her husband divide their time between London and Dorset.

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    Reviews for The Lady and the Unicorn

    4/5

    71 ratings65 reviews

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    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Chevalier's Lady and the Unicorn centers around the weaving of the famous Unicorn Tapestries much as Girl with a Pearl Earring centered around Vermeer's painting. I like the way Chevalier works; I like the way a work of art is used as a focus and a catalyst. I don't like most of her characters, which makes the books rather chilly reads; there's a distance kept between the reader and the inhabitants of the book which isn't unlike that between a viewer and the inhabitants of a painting. Even when you're inside the head of one of the more sympathetic characters at a very intense moment there's still a certain detachment. The chapters rotate POV among a selection of the major characters; it's almost like an exercise in writing. I'm an art geek, so I love all the details about working in the 1400's here, and the tiny bit of weaving I did in school made this accessible; I always did wonder how they joined the different colors. (D'oh.) If nothing else, it's a very pretty hardcover, and now I desperately want to go stand in the middle of the room hung with these tapestries. Recommended, but not with a whole lot of warmth.
    • 4/5
      A wonderful story about a set of tapestries, the artist who designed them, and the family of weavers who made them.
    • 4/5
      Great historical detail.
    • 4/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      Nicolas des Innocents, a handsome artist, is summoned to the Paris home of Jean Le Viste, a nobleman who wants Nicolas to design a series of battle tapestries for his house. Jean’s wife, Geneviève, persuades Nicolas to talk her husband into a softer subject: the taming of a unicorn by a noblewoman. Nicolas shapes the tapestries with his own vision, dedicating five of the six to the senses and using the images of Geneviève and her daughter, Claude, with whom Nicolas is smitten, for two of the ladies in the tapestries.Nicolas takes the finished designs to Brussels, where master weaver Georges de la Chapelle will make them. At first Nicolas is scornful of Georges, but gradually comes to respect him and his wife Christine, and to take an interest in his daughter Aliénor. Nicolas models two more of the ladies in the tapestries after Christine and Aliénor, but his heart lies with the unattainable Claude.The six tapestries made in the course of the story hang in the Musée National du Moyen Age (aka Cluny Museum) in Paris.
    • 3/5
      In this novel, Chevalier takes on the story behind another famous work of art, this time the "lady and the unicorn" tapestry. In 1490 Paris, painter Nicolas des Innocents is commissioned to design a tapestry for a rising noble lord. He finds inspiration, and - ahem - more, from the man's beautiful daughter Claude. Once the designs are finished, he travels to Brussels to oversee the work of a weaving family, where he seduces the weaver's daughter. Chevalier is usually a hit or miss with me, and unfortunately, I would have to say that this one was a miss. I found the progress on the tapestry and their formative designs interesting, but I disliked the characters of the book and the unexpectedly rough writing style. The main character, Nicolas, is a contemptible man that I held a strong disliking for. I am always intrigued by books with flawed main characters - perhaps people that you cannot help but cheer for, despite their overall wickedness. I never felt anything close to that for Nicolas, or for his main love interest, Claude.Nicolas is at times described as having a devastating for of charm, but I just couldn't share in that opinion. He seemed brash and uncouth to me. His pick-up line is about the tale of a unicorn that can, by putting his horn into something, purify it, implying that it can even return women to being virgins. Who do you imagine the unicorn is? Not only is Nicolas an unapologetic womanizer (and I mean that in a distasteful way, not a sexy way), he is also quite cruel to the people that he comes in contact with.Claude was unconvincing: a strikingly beautiful nobleman's daughter with a mind constantly on sex, audacious enough to start feeling up Nicolas on their second brief meeting. She seemed a gratuitous sex-appeal sort of character, and it all came across as very heavy-handed. The storyline was smooth enough, and Chevalier's writing was concise and satisfactory, but there was nothing in the story itself that would make me eager to recommend this book to someone else. Paired with such dislikable characters, I didn't enjoy this one.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the most delightful books I've read in the past few years. For me, Lady and the Unicorn bubbled along, filled with both fun and pathos. I found myself caring deeply not only about the characters but also the tapestries themselves. I also found myself referring frequently to the designs underneath the dust-jacket.
    • 2/5
      The imagined story of the making of the famous tapestries. Randy artist, depressive mother, rebellious daughter, poor blind girl saved from marriage to a smelly lout - how can you lose? But for all that material, it's pretty flat.
    • 5/5
      Re-read 2018 in preparation for seeing the tapestries in Sydney at an exhibition - excellent book that reimagines how they might have been conceived, designed and made - many characters with the morals of the time.
    • 3/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      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 historical period in which it is set. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      It was ok..dont think I'd recommend it, though!
    • 4/5
      It took some time to get into, but by about 2/3 of the way through, I was reading very quickly! I loved the history in it, and learning about how weaving was done. It was interesting to think that something like this could have happened. It caught me a little off gaurd, the way that different voices were used throughout the book, but I think that only helped tell the story of the tapestry. The epilog was my favorite part, as what I had been hoping throughout the book seems to have come true.
    • 4/5
      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 fiction and a love story to boot.
    • 3/5
      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 a creep!), and it could have been better-researched.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsIt’s late in the 15th century and artist Nicolas des Innocents is hired to design tapestries for nobleman Jean le Viste. Nicolas is a notorious womanizer and decides he wants to bed Jean’s daughter, Claude. Claude, in turn, is attracted to Nicolas, but she is yet to be betrothed and certainly can’t afford any stains on her reputation! Meanwhile, after the tapestries are designed, Nicolas must hand over the actual crafting of them to a weaver in Brussels, Georges de la Chapelle. Georges, his family, and his workers take it from there to actual make the tapestries. Georges also has a daughter, Alienor, who happens to be blind. Nicolas also works his charms on her. Overall, I did like the book/the story, but I REALLY didn’t like Nicolas, nor did I like Claude. I did like Alienor, but I just don’t understand how all these women would fall for the jerk, Nicolas! Each chapter is told from a different point of view, but the start of the chapter tells you whose point of view you are a following, so it’s not hard to follow.
    • 4/5
      Crisp historical novel told from about a dozen perspectives as it narrates the creation of the famous unicorn tapestry and speculates on the lives of the commissioning family and the craftsmen who made it. A brash artist seduces the womenfolk of Paris and Brussels while learning the nuances of tapestry.
    • 2/5
      This book was entertaining in parts, and I enjoyed the peek into the world of Flemish weavers' workshops. I didn't find the characters very engaging, though, and occasionally I thought their actions and motivations did not match up. I am not sure that the benefits of the multiple first-person narrators -- the 'weaving' conceit, the ability to impart secrets directly to the reader -- outweighed the repetition, uneven appeal, and occasional clunkiness it gave the story.Notes on the audiobook reading: the two readers (male and female) did well, and differentiated the voices capably.
    • 4/5
      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 - 'only' 4 stars for the book, 3 1/2 for the abridged audio version.The narrative begins with artist Nicolas des Innocents being called upon by nobleman, Jean Le Viste, to design some beautiful tapestries for his wife. As a portrait painter, he is rather surprised by the commission but takes it on enthusiastically.When Nicholas meets Le Viste's daughter, Claude, he is instantly smitten, though the Le Viste family is horrified when they hear.Nicholas is then called away to Brussels to meet the man who will weave the tapestries. For me, this was the better part of the book. The struggles the weaver and his family go through to get the work finished on time and the descriptions of the weaver's blind daughter, really had me rooting for them. Nicholas des Innocents was being far from innocent in Brussels and I didn't have much respect for his character, probably resulting in the dropped star in my rating.I was lucky enough to be reading from the hardback version with beautiful illustrations of the tapestries in both frontspieces, which greatly added to my pleasure in the book.If you are new to this author I'd recommend starting with The Virgin Blue or Falling Angels, but it's a hard choice!
    • 4/5
      Fascinating to learn about tapestry-making.
    • 4/5
      While not as captivating as The Girl with the Pearl Earring, this book returns the author to her forte - blending fact and fiction to reveal one possible story behind a work of art.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      I'm not a big fan of historic novels, so I was always very reticent in reading Tracy Chevalier books. Then a friend almost forced me to read Girl with a Pearl Earring a couple of years ago and I had to admit that at least Ms Chevalier wasn't too bad :)What I like the most in this book (as in the Girl) is how the author can explain how a tapestry (or a painting) was made back then. The wool, the process, the long work hours, etc. I also think that having the story told by the different caracters in each chapter made it all more interesting and giving a more profound knowledge of everyone's feelings.
    • 4/5
      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 tapestry would be commissioned, designed and then woven.
    • 4/5
      The inspiration behind this historical fiction novel is the very real set of medieval tapestries depicting the seduction of a unicorn currently on display in a Paris museum. This is my first novel by Tracy Chevalier and I was instantly captivated by the subject matter and wanted to know how the author would approach the subject, given there is little known about the creation of the magnificent tapestries.The Lady and the Unicorn is a quick read, and very rich in period detail. The story begins in Paris in 1490 and moves to Brussels, where the tapestries are woven in a family owned business.I was completely engrossed by the weaving process, and was amazed to learn just how difficult and time consuming tapestries were to make in medieval times. For example, I didn't know they were woven face down. One of the tapestries took 2 years to weave, which meant that it was 2 years before the workers could see their final creation. When it was finished and cut from the loom, it was then quickly rolled and locked in a wooden trunk to protect it from thieves and insects. Imagine all that work, and barely 5 minutes to look at the end creation.There is much sex and sexual tension in the book and I enjoyed reading about the fate of several women, although I wasn't too fond of the womanizing artist.The story was rich with drama and historical detail and I especially enjoyed reading about the fate of the tapestries after they had been completed and long after all characters in the book had passed away. Fascinating!I thoroughly enjoyed The Lady and the Unicorn, and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in weaving or who enjoys European historical fiction.
    • 5/5
      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 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.
    • 4/5
      Good, but not as good as Girl with the Pearl Earring
    • 4/5
      Interesting read. Not as good as Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.