Lady and the Unicorn, The

Rating:
Summary: This one's a winner
Review: The basis for this book is a series of Medieval tapestries on display in a Paris museum. My first thought on hearing what this book was about was, "How is anyone going to make an interesting read out of that!" But Chevalier does, and quite brilliantly. As if that weren't enough, the writing is so excellent in this novel that you could read it just for the "poetry" and nothting else, but again, Chevalier does some remarkable things with "weaving" these elements togehter (the prose, the story, the characters) and the end result is great. The writing is on the same level as McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or Chevalier's other work, GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING. I highly recommend this stellar work of fiction to anyone with a pulse!

Rating:
Summary: A joy to read
Review: This book tells Tracy Chevalier's made up story of a very real set of tapestries featuring several ladies and a unicorn that now sit at the Musee National du Moyen-Age Thermes de Cluny in Paris. The novel is set in Paris during the Middle Ages, takes us through the creation of the tapestries and the lives they effect, beginning with Nicolas des Innocents, who is anything but, and the women in his life. The story is woven as the tapestries and the lives of the characters.

The tale is skillfully and artfully told. The writing is beautiful as the millefiore described in the art. The historical details are fascinating as is the journey through making the tapestries. This book is hard to put down. I loved this one almost as much as Girl with the Pearl Earring, and that is saying a lot because it is one of my all time favorite books.

My book club also loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, but scandalous!
Review: This is a really well-written, beautifully descriptive, accurate, and exciting novel. Don't be put off by the fact that it's about a tapestry, because it's not a technical, boring book. It's all about the people that help create the tapestry.
It takes place in 1490, in Paris, when a nobleman commissions Nicholas des Innocents to draw the designs for a tapestry. Nicholas is a bit of a womanizer; and after realizing on the 2nd page that the maid he slept with last time is pregnant, he turns around and falls in love with the nobleman's daughter, Claude. Claude can't marry him, so she is sent to a convent temporarily while Nicholas goes to Brussels to see the tapestry being made. Nicholas meets the weaver and his family, and falls in love with the weaver's blind daughter, Alienor. Although it sounds like a shallow love story, it is not. Each chapter is written by a different character; of course Nicholas, Claude, and Alienor have their chapters, but the weaver, the nobleman, and Claude's mother all have their own chapters that tell their stories and problems. Since Tracy Chevalier is such a skilled author, the chapters flow very well, even though the character voice shifts. The ending is spectacular; it ties up all of the loose ends very neatly, but doesn't give a cheesy, predictable ending.
The descriptions in the book are gorgeous; you can immediately visualize the setting of late-medieval/early renaissance Europe. They are never too detailed that they slow the plot down. One word of caution: since the descriptions go into so much detail, that means that the love scenes are rather graphic. It seems like a fairly innocent book, but don't be fooled. It's definitely not porn or even close, but there are some scenes that can be a bit shocking if you're not expecting them. This shouldn't be a problem for most people, since this is an adult book, but in case you were thinking about it for a teen, you might want to choose a different book. It's a fabulous book, though, and I would recommend it to almost anyone, whether you like history or not.