About this title: Taking as her inspiration the famous "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries (which date from the 16th century), Tracy Chevalier writes a deeply researched historical novel about their creation, going into the minds and lives of the men who designed and executed the tapestries as well as the into the events of the time.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dutton Books
Date Published: 12/2003
ISBN-13:9780525947677ISBN:0525947671
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dutton Books
Date Published: 12/2003
ISBN-13:9780525947677ISBN:0525947671
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dutton Books
Date Published: 12/2003
ISBN-13:9780525947677ISBN:0525947671
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dutton Books
Date Published: 12/2003
ISBN-13:9780525947677ISBN:0525947671
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p. Previous Owner's Inscription. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, New York
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780452285453ISBN:0452285453
Description: Good. Trade PB, glued binding, 250 pp. covers shelfworn & scratched, edges & corners lightly tattered, pages yellowing due to age, good reading copy. Includes color plates of tapestries. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Plume
Date Published: 2004-12-28
ISBN-13:9780452285453ISBN:0452285453
Description: Good. Paperbacks are previously owned. They are all in readable condition. They may have previous owners stamps, labels or names written or on them. The covers and spine may have creasing from previously being read. The corners may be bumped and there may be a small number of bent pages. Older books may have fading/discoloration due to light exposure. * read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Dutton Books
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780525947677ISBN:0525947671
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Dust jacket has 1/2" tear, otherwise excellent condition. Glued binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, New York
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780525947677ISBN:0525947671
Description: Good in good jacket. 250 pp. bit of cant to spine, corners bumped, light edge wear; Taking as her inspiration the famous "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries (which date from the 16th century), Tracy Chevalier writes a deeply researched historical novel about their creation, going into the minds and lives of the men who designed and executed the tapestries as well as the into the events of the time. read more
"The Lady and the Unicorn is the second book I've borrowed for a test drive from author Tracy Chevalier, after seeing her give a fantastic, comfortable yet commanding talk on the inspiration behind her novels at the Brisbane Writer's Festival earlier this year (the first book I delved into was Remarkable Creatures - you can find my review HERE).
The Lady and the Unicorn, despite my initial reservations cultivated by some earlier disappointed reviewers, did not disappoint me.
I found it to be an elegant read, similar to how I felt about Remarkable Creatures, yet this is where the comparison of the two novels ends for me - The Lady and the Unicorn is decidedly Parisian (more sensual!) and takes place in the late 15th Century, where a series of six tapestries presses within its folds the desires and loves and frustrations of those involved in the tapestries' creation. The Lady and the Unicorn begins at the commissioning of the artwork - Nicholas Des Innocent (ironically named, considering his Don Juan characteristics) is a French artist employed by a French noble, who has requested the erection of a battle scene tapestry for his living room/ banquet area. After Nicholas the artist meets the French noble's serene wife and her five comely daughters, the idea of a battle scene is persuasively altered to a work of more peaceful beauty - a set of six separate tapestries, each with a beautiful maiden representing the five senses of the physical human body (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) through individual interactions with a lone white unicorn, complete a rather sizeable and sharp horn on its brow. The sixth maiden is separate from the rest and does not represent any of the senses - it heralds a sense of stability and freedom that the reader may find missing in the other five tapestry creations as they shift and alter through to the final display. The symbolism of the tapestries and the way in which the artist has rebelled against the class norm to declare his lusty passions for the nobleman's daughter through the artwork, is not unlike Chevalier's rebellion against a usual novel structure with its one protagonist. Before this novel is over we will meet other characters influenced by the recklessness of the charismatic artist, and witness the blood, sweat and tears wrung from the unpredictability of life, and change.
The tapestries themselves aren't fiction - they've collectively become known in modern times as The Lady and the Unicorn, and according to Wikipedia is considered to be the greatest masterpiece of the medieval age. I didn't know much about this incredibly detailed tapestry to begin with - but I feel now that I'd be happy to research further: Chevalier has given the artwork a story of vibrancy that I wonder whether a museum viewing of the tapestries would have been able to adequately convey. The author has deftly spun a storyline arc that plaits perspectives and lives in and over one another throughout the novel, and the book appears to be a social study of class and duty, of lust and love and responsibilities. Yet Chevalier's true triumph is her ability to write historical books that are driven by the details of life's inner workings, rather than a catastrophic event that a character can have no control over. The Lady and the Unicorn picks at relationships and exposes how they can be threaded together, or broken with the snip of scissors, or even covered or painted over to make way for something entirely different -the tapestries' supposed innocence and peaceful sweetness barely covers the heady desires and insensible impulses of the novel's passionate characters.
It wouldn't be entirely true to call this story a work of historical fiction. And Chevalier is not an historian either. More, she is a photographer and a painter, a psychologist with imagination, as she creates and moulds a sense of the lives and the relationships lived by a handful of not-so-simple people in a snapshot of time. And I enjoyed the book mostly for its complex characters and complex life changes, and somewhat simple solutions. But I also appreciated its subtle undercurrents - as if you can never take what the book is saying at face value.
Strangely sensual, sometimes rude and sometimes sweetly poignant, this story lifts and falls naturally much like the heaving bosom Nicholas Des Innocents constantly fantasises about. Its steady rhythm and pace keeps one involved in the story itself rather than looking for a climax, or a conclusion, though by the end of the book everyone's loose ends are tied satisfactorily, or not so satisfactorily, depending on how you wanted each character to end up. But isn't that always the way? I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Chevalier is perfectly subtle and wonderfully natural in her writing, and I cannot wait to try her next book if the past two have been anything to go by. But if there's one particular lesson I take from reading this book, it's this: keep your daughters within eyeshot and your legs primly crossed, for you never know who might be frolicking about under the banquet table, hoping to catch a glimpse of innocence undone. You might not think to lift your skirts for any such creature, but the draw of the magical unicorn's horn can be too powerful for some human maidens to resist.
Rating: 4 faintly-pulsing stars for The Lady and the Unicorn."
"My initial assessment of The Lady and the Unicorn remained true throughout the rest of the book. It was alright, but not the good piece of historical fiction I was expecting. The best parts were when we're taken to Brussels (home of the lissier and his family) and get inside the heads of the people who live there. Alienor was my favorite character, she's charming, stubborn, sympathetic, and independant. She makes her own future to save herself from a dismal life with a man she cannot stand. She is the true central part of this book, but she doesn't emerge until a third of the way through. If it had been more about her and her family, I think I would have liked it better. We're intially introduced to Jean Le Viste and his family; his daughter Claude is one of the main characters in the beginning, but a) she's not very likeable, and b) she disappears for the whole middle section of the book and only surfaces briefly once before the very end. Additionally, the character of Nicolas has some motivational problems. On one hand, he's an arogant, cheap womanizer who seduces anything with breasts and can't wait to "plow" Claude in her fathers house. On the other, he's a likeable, charming, struggling painter who saves Alienor from a life of misery. Make up your mind, fellow. I felt that the language was a little too obnoxious at parts, especially with the times of prayers and the holidays. Sext, May Day, Ascension Day, Candlemas? These mean nothing to me so it's hard to tell what the real passing of time is. I understand they're part of the language, so I got over it, but toward the end they resurfaced a lot. And the characters voices and language when they were talking to each other also seemed unrealistic at times. There's a clear plot device (petite Claude) that is meant to shock the reader; but we're not stupid and it falls flat. Overall, I wasn't a fan, nor was I wholly disappointed with this book. It wouldn't be the first one I'd recommed, but I've read worse."
"Even though I would call this "Historical Fiction Lite" I still really enjoyed it. When I think of good historical fiction I think of Margaret George or Phillipa Gregory; this is way fluffier than those books but also an easier and quicker read. I think I even liked this a bit better than Girl with A Pearl Earring because it was told from many different characters' perspectives which always gives you a better view of the characters. It was also more humorous, for example Nicholas De Innocents' name is funny because he was certainly far from innocent. Other reviews have described it as bawdy but I found those sexual references humorous. The descriptions of the weaving process and how that family interacted with others and each other was interesting; and it was nice to see those middle class women take their destinies into their own hands instead of letting life just happen to them like Claude, the nobleman's daughter. If you look at the artwork itself (the 6 different tapestries depicting the 5 senses and "A Mon Seul Desir") you will notice that the lady in each tapestry is different and it supports the story that Chevalier tells of how the characters that we slowly learn about are woven into the tapestries."
"I expected something in the vein of Girl with a Pearl Earring and it was something totally different. It lacks Girl...'s poetic and romantic atmosphere, but The Lady and the Unicorn was a pleasant summer read. I enjoyed reading about the tapestries, the way weavers worked in 15th-century Belgium, and I liked this interpretation of an existing piece of art. The characters were likable enough, even though the plot sometimes switches from one to another in a rapid manner.
There are also some negative elements I'd like to point out: the narration is sometimes strangely worded. I think it's due to the author's effort to have the characters speak French... in English. Also, random racy moments are random (and sometimes funny - I don't think that was done on purpose, though). There are some stereotypes that kinda make you cringe, but the moral of the story is nice, even if it's totally hackneyed.
In spite of all this, I enjoyed this novel and looked forward to reading the next chapter every time I closed the book, and that's enough for me :)"
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