The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracey Chevalier

Tracey Chevalier seems to like these stories about painters and their muses. This one was about the tapestries of the lady and the unicorn that I’ve seen in the Musee du Moyen Age in Paris, set apart in their own room for considered viewing. They are beautiful and unusual, showing a lady seducing a unicorn until it is prepared to lay its head in her lap. They also refer to the five senses and have the most beautiful background of tiny flowers. The story is really chick-lit dressed up as historical fiction but it is a great light read and perfect for holidays. The central character is Nicolas, the painter who conceives the idea. He’s a randy young fellow and his affairs help to define what goes on both in the tapestries and in the lives of the people involved: the noble women in the family who have commissioned the tapestries, the weavers and even the servants. The story is told in a series of episodes narrated by different characters such as the young noblewoman Claude, her mother Genevieve, the weaver’s wife Christine, his daughter Alienor, the painter himself and so forth. In fact you could say the story is weaving in itself – and I wonder whether Chevalier hasn’t intended that.