Great book. Probably a 3 and half star. A wealth of insight into life in the late 1400s all in a well written book, good story.

Incredibly clunky and just flat-out dull. If you've read Girl With a Pearl Earring you can pretty much track where this story's going to go. It's very predictable and the sexual subplots were laughable in places. Sorry, Ms Chevalier, but this was just not worth my time, even for the really lovely scenes describing the tapestries (and those tapestries are amazing. Seriously, google them).

I'm happy this was a short book, because I didn't enjoy it at all.
It was just obscene and no idea why this is even historical fiction when there's barely any of what it was supposed to be about.

I thought it was going to be more about the tapestry but it was just about strange, inadequate characters.

Mixed feelings about this book. I was interested in reading it because of the famed medieval tapestries by the same name. I've never seen them in person but photos of them are just incredible and the craftsmanship involved in creating them absolutely phenomenal. I've never woven anything but it seemed the author had knowledge or researched the process pretty thoroughly. It was a laborious process and done upside down, in mirror image of the finished project. So incredible especially considering the amount of detail involved. These tapestries tell a story using the five senses, which is another amazing aspect. They aren't just beautiful but give the viewer a lot to ponder about the how's and why they were created when looking at the women and scenes depicted in them. I ended the book with huge respect for the master craft of weaving.

I started out thinking the author might have delved more into the Le Viste family, especially the head of the family who would have been the authority who ordered them. Instead very little time was devoted to him ~ was that because little is known & the author didn't want to put suppositions on him?? I wish she'd shown the same constraint with the character she created as the artist behind the tapestries. He was a lothario of the first order and portrayed as the complete opposite to what the unicorn means spiritually. Very little likeable about him except his apparent painting skills.

I'm still deciding if the book does justice to the creation of the tapestries or not? Made that many years ago, their conception is open to interpretation but somehow the book left a more sordid taste about these works of art than I ever expected to feel.

Ще одна спроба Трейсі Шевальє розповісти про процес творення мистецького твору - гобеленів 15 століття "Дама і єдиноріг". Так само як і "Дівчина з перловою сережкою" це цілком вигадана історія, але також вдала, завдяки психологізмові. Сюжет досить простий і подій насправді мало, бо як і в "Дівчині" йдеться радше про те, щоб зрозуміти мотивації головних героїв. Деякі з них так собі - ловелас, від якого вагітніють служниці, мама, що відправляє доньку в монастир, але зрештою звикаєш до них. Книжка не перевантажена історичними деталями, натомість повна деталей побутових - що їдять ремісника, а що черниці в монастирі, скільки часу треба, щоб дійти з базару в Брюсселі до церкви гільдії ткачів і чим при цьому смердітиме на вулицях, як нищаться руки від роботи з вовною. Не історична повість, а повість в історії, бо її персонажі, хоч і обмежені рамками умовностей, відповідних їх професії чи суспільному стану, хочуть того що й ми.
Підозрюю, що за надцять років цей роман буде цікавий, бо розповідатиме більше про прагнення, сучасні авторці - наприклад професійної реалізації жінок чи вільного кохання.

“I feel like a bird who has been wounded with an arrow and now cannot fly.”

"They remind me of what I was like before, all light and happy and free. Only the one where the unicorn lies in her lap is like me now."

I don't know why I prolong some books. Its not because I don't like them, I guess I just don't know how I feel about them and need to let them marinate for a while to really get my feel for them. This was one of those books. (Law& Order's duh duh.)

So this is the fourth book of Chevalier's that I've read. I really liked Girl With the Pearl Earring and her two books Remarkable Creatures and Newboy ranged from okay to god awful. This book was the deciding factor if Tracey Chevalier was a one hit wonder for me or not. Luckily she still has a few tricks up her sleeve and can still weave a tale. I really like stories that involve or are about art (etc. Girl With the Pearl Earring, The Gold Finch..) so this book had more than just proving Chevalier was a good writer, but a good weaver of a theme that I love. (See what I did there?)

For the uninitiated The Lady and the Unicorn is about the famous tapestries from the 15th century and (like her previous work) a fictional story made up to fill out the background that is lost to history. The only 'historical' characters in this book are the Le Viste family and like two ladies in waiting. But like any story that is well crafted it's the characters that bolster history's reality, in this story's case that man's name is Nicolas Des Innocents. Or if you prefer...


(My favorite of the Chris's)

Not three pages into the the book it's revealed that the lovable rogue has impregnated a poor servant girl. He has little sympathy for her, even blames her, gives her a few coins and flirts with another girl right in front of her. This comes back to bite him in the ass later, but it doesn't really stop him from what his true drive is which is of course painting. Des Innocents is commissioned by the Le Viste family to create the now famous unicorn tapestries, but he is only the designer the weavers are the other half of the story (as well as the narrative) and play a major part into Des Innocents character development.

I really loved the ending of this book, it gives the full shape of the novel and the view points of the women who play a major role in shaping the theme of the tapestries. Touch, Sound, Smell, Sight, Taste, and Mon Seul Desir. Des Innocents says at the end that he "had gotten all the ladies wrong." But I think it was more of a growth of character and seeing them for more than just their facial beauty. Especially with Claude, a girl Des Innocents wanted the most, she returned his feelings but in the end gave into her destiny. As she said "In a place that is a paradise to Maman and a prison to me. That is what a lady's life is after all.." Des Innocents, ironic as his name was was the unicorn in his paintings. He was tamed in the end.

"I feel as if these women have changed me somehow.."

I've always wondered about the intricate process of creating a tapestry and in this book I felt like the author had taken me by the hand and patiently brought the creation of six tapestries to life for me, drawing me into the world of fifteen's century Paris and Brussels. Artists, cartoonists, dyers, weavers, seamstresses and financiers were all involved in the creation, months of preparations and planning were followed by months of weaving. In among this interesting setting, we're introduced to a myriad of characters brought together for the realization of these pieces of art. I had to laugh out loud when I came across this paragraph : 'He is a boaster that Paris artist. I have not been to Paris ... but I've met enough Paris men to know that I wouldn't like it there. They are too sure of their ways. Always they know best - they have the best wine, the best shoes, the best cloth, the best brushes, the best ways of making paint. Their women bear more children, their hens more eggs ... their churches are taller, their ships faster, their roads smoother.' The rivalry between Paris and Brussels was still apparent when I grew up in the Belgian capital so reading those lines made me shake my head in disbelief that these competitive streaks started sometime in the past, hundreds of years ago. But the legacy of tapestries bind them together, their contributions equal and the result often stunning and impressive.

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Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!
I found Lady and the Unicorn even better than Girl with a Pearl Earring. I felt utterly transported to the middle ages and immersed in a very good tale, immaculately told.
As she did with The Girl With the Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier takes a classic work of art and artfully spins a tale inspired by the original which becomes an original itself.
It was specially fascinating living among the Brussels weavers and coming to understand the magnitude of their task. One almost feels their physical discomfort and certainly the realities of a labor intensive craft. It was the part of the book I most enjoyed.
Next time I go to Paris I will not miss the Cluny Museum to see the tapestries for myself!
Meanwhile we can see them (in full size) at VanderNat's home page or at Tracy Chevalier's official site

One of the most beautifull books I have ever read :)
Now on I will look for the color blue in old tapestries with 'other eyes'. ;)

I was in Paris in October 2018, for the first time in my life (late to the Paris party, I know), and I saw the amazing "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries in the Cluny Museum on the last day of our visit. The museum was right across from our hotel, and we saved it for the last day (less walking for exhausted legs), not realizing what an incredible treat we had in store.

The tapestries are truly awe-inspiring. They fill a medium-sized, dimly-lit stone room, much as they would have in @1495 when they were finished. Sound is muted, the room is noticeably warmer than the rest of the museum (which is in the restored, 11th century St. Cluny church), and there is a comforting hint of wool in the air, all these centuries later. You understand why expensive and large wool tapestries were so sought-after in chilly, medieval castles and wealthy homes: they helped warm the rooms.

The tapestries themselves are alive, the warm reds, blue, gold, green are still so vibrant and alive that they draw you in, and for a long time you just stand and stare. The flowers ("millefleurs" in the book), the animals, the Ladies, they are truly enchanting. They do tell a mysterious, engaging and alluring story about a young woman and a unicorn. (The museum also has a "history of the unicorn" exhibit alongside the tapestries, which is also pretty fascinating. At the time the tapestries were made, people still believed they were real.)

Even as I write this, I have two large posters from the exhibition and a calendar near me in my office, some of a very few touristy items I purchased on the trip. I had so many questions when I left the Cluny museum that day: who was the Lady in the tapestries, who made them, who commissioned them, how long did it take to make them, what story are they telling?

Anyway, it's hard for any book to live up to the real tapestries, and that may be why I was a little disappointed with this book. Chevalier clearly did A LOT of research, the writing is pretty vivid, and her exploration of the time period, Paris and the weavers guild in Brussels is fascinating. In fact, the story of the weaver and his family was my favourite part of the book.

But I found the story of the main character, the Parisian artist who is commissioned to paint the original ideas for the tapestries, a little disappointing. He's a jerk, all he can think about is his next conquest, and I get that he's supposed to be like the unicorn ... but I guess I wanted more majesty, mystery, more nuances to his character and more story frankly. The book did seem a little short, considering the depth and potential of the delicious material (haha).

Also, the other main character, the "Lady" herself, left me thinking, "What a stupid, spoiled brat." So whether she was a realistic portrait of a possible subject or not, she was tough to like or admire in any way. You don't necessarily have to like the main character, but again I suppose I was hoping for someone slightly more worthy or majestic. The real tapestries made me hope for more, which is perhaps unfair. Maybe the Lady in the tapestries really was a spoiled brat (hey, someone commissioned truly amazing works of art of her, so the potential was definitely there) ...

Still, I did learn quite a bit, and Chevalier's research clearly lead her to some interesting conclusions which did answer some questions for me, like who most likely made the tapestries, where, how and why?

All to say, if you like historical fiction you may enjoy this whether you've seen the tapestries or not (but don't miss them if you're ever in Paris!).

I have read a couple of other novels by Tracy Chevalier and enjoyed them. The concept underlying The Lady and the Unicorn is like my previous experience. At its center is the creation of a piece of art, a tapestry in this case. The time is 1490 and the artist, Nicolas des Innocents, is asked by a French nobleman, Jean Le Viste, to create a set of six tapestries with which Jean Le Viste can decorate his Grande Salle or great room for his oldest daughter’s betrothal. Jean Le Viste wants a battle scene, but his wife, Genevieve de Nanterre, does not; she persuades Nicolas des Innocents to convince her husband otherwise.

The most enjoyable part of the novel was learning about the process by which tapestries are made. The portrayal of medieval life and commerce was also enlightening. However, I did not enjoy this novel as much as the other two that I have read by Chevalier, especially Remarkable Creatures. Chevalier did not have as much known history to work with in this case and had to create significantly more story with which to surround the creation of the artwork. Much of the story that was added can be described as bawdy romance, which I found distracting. Despite these caveats, it is an entertaining tale and provides some insight into the medieval world. The tapestries are widely regarded as an excellent example of Medieval art and crafts; they are on display today in the Musee de Cluny.

2.5⭐️
This book fell pretty flat for me. I liked The Girl with the Pearl Earring and generally enjoy reading about the Middle Ages (lol) but I just couldn’t bring myself to care for any of these characters. Chevalier made the mistake/decision to narrate from 5+ people’s perspectives throughout the story which made characterisation pretty surface level and i never got enough insight to care about any of them. Also, most were either unlikeable or made nonsensical decisions uncharacteristic of the period. It seemed like everyone was fooling around with everyone and there’s no way the hot painter was hot enough for everyone to overlook his awful misogyny… Overall I cared about the tapestries but no one else.