The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier > Reviews (4)

If you have previously encountered Tracy Chevalier, the odds are it was with her novel 'Girl with a Pearl earring' which was based on a piece of artwork. Just looking at the back cover for 'The Lady and the Unicorn' you may feel inclined to think that Chevalier has found her format - historical fiction with a work of art as centre of plot. I will admit, it put me off initially. 'Girl with a pearl earring' was gloriously fresh, and I feared this might be a tad formulaic, but I was wrong.

Rather than a painting, this time round we have a series of 6 tapestries dating from 15th century France. You may have seen them. if you aven't, they are inside the back and front covers, and you'll find you end up erferenceing them a lot. I don'tt hink the whole of each tapestry is shown, but you do get the relevant bits. They all feature a lady and a unicorn. Five apparently represent the five senses, although some are more immediatly obvious than others, the sixth 'mon seul desire' is open to interpretation. It's known which family the tapestries were made for because their coat of arms is represented throughout, but other than that, their back story is a mystery, is is the identity of the various ladies depicted in the story. I should also note that Chevalier interprets this as the Lady seducing the unicorn.

Having done her research into the known history of the tapestries and the likely method by which they would have been made, Chevalier fleshes out the bones of their tale with characters and narrative. What makes this book especially striking, is the use of seven first person narrators, most have two chapters, in the same order, with a coupel of notable exceptions. It's a very skillful piece of construction.

The narrative then. Jean Le Viste is a nobleman who wants to prove his status by having six tapestries made for his hall. Under his wife's influence, he comissions an artist to design these for him. The artist, Nicholas, is a bit of a cad, he likes to put it about and is careless of the effect his sexual habits have on the women he seduces (Or 'ploughs' as he so delicatly puts it). He becomes passionatly obsessed with the daughter of the house, Claude. However, when he is sent north to watch over the production of the tapestries and assist with the process, he becomes entangled in the lives of the family making the works. This is a tale both of art, and of thwarted passion, and of a man learning to be a lot less selfish. Nicholas makes quite a striking journey, from being a shallow, heartless individual, to being remarkably compasisonate and aware of the feelings of others. Providing a backdrop to it all, are the six tapestries, their inspiration, the workmanship that brings them to life, and the fates of those who are involved with the creating of them.

it is a compelling story. The characters are well sketched, and, because of the use of multiple narrators, you get to see many of the players from a range of angles, which is fascianting, and gives it a complexity that is remarkable.

There's an obvious temptation to liken the weaving together of plot and character with the making of tapestry, but I'm not going to labour the point.

I read the whole thing in an afternoon - its not a very long book, and I was unable to put it down. The prose style is beautiful, the details seem perfect - you can tell when a writer knows their stuff, and there's so much understanding in here, its very vivid. it's sensual, and compelling, and you really do get drawn into the characters such that you care what happens to them.

As for the title of my op, well, Nicholas favours the story of the unicorn as a method of seduction, and being a horny little beast himself, it serves him well until the tapestries sethim on a singular journey that will broaden him no end.

If you liked 'Girl with a pearl earring,' if you like historical writing, or if you like exquisite, delicate prose, then this is a must read. I hoenstly cannot praise it enough, I thought it was superb and will be loaning my copy to friends and buying it for other people as Christmas presents. Chevallier is excellent, and even if she does stick with the 'piece of art in historical context' story, I'm going to keep reading her works, it is at least a fairly original format to have taken up, and she is handling it in ways that keep it new and interesting. In terms of plot, character and style, this is quite a lot different from 'Girl with a pearl earring', she's not just repeating what worked last time.