The Lady and the Unicorn

Another book of historical fiction, this one by Tracy Chevalier, who previously wrote Girl with a Pearl Earring. In The Lady and the Unicorn, Chevalier once again builds a fictional story around a work of art; this time, the Lady with the Unicorn tapestries, a set of six pieces that were designed by an unknown French artist and woven in the late 1400s in Brussels. So little is known about the origin of the tapestries that Chevalier had little to constrain her. She makes up for the lack of facts with a good story, full of romance, sex, and social/class struggles. Most of the story takes place during the weaving of the tapestries, which in itself is very interesting and gives a glimpse into the lives of working class people, set against the life of the upper class patron (and his family) who ordered the tapestries. The stories of how all four central women characters struggle to make their own choices in life is timeless and fascinating. Woven into this story is the story told by the tapestries themselves, or at least the story that Chevalier imagines the artist to have intended.

I listened to rather than read this book. All in all, a good choice for an audio book, with the one exception that I would have liked to see the French words in print so I could understand what they actually said. Funny how that works.