The Lady and the Unicorn
Ratings11
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings11
Average rating3.5
The wonderful new novel from the much loved author of 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.
Reviews with the most likes.
My only real complaint with this book is the use of gratuitous French. They???re already speaking French in the story, why do they say ???Tiens??? or ???Bien sur???? If you don???t speak French you can sort of figure out what they???re saying from context sometimes, but about half the time you have no idea what???s being said - because there speaking French in a story where they???re technically already speaking French.
It was an enjoyable read. Not life-altering, but an interesting story that???s more about characters and how tapestries are made, with no super dramatic plot.
[slight spoilers] This was more of a 3.5 or less for me because of the way it ended, but I didn't want do penalize it because it's just not the book for me.
I admire the way this was written, and I thought the different narrators were interesting (though you do have to pay attention to whose name heads the chapter). It was a quick read, too, and definitely immersive in the time period.
But . . . I was attracted to this story because of the tapestries, and it ended up reminding me why I often avoid historical fiction.
