The Lady and the Unicorn

Description

'Enormously enjoyable' Evening Standard 'Charming' The Times 'What would you have me paint instead of a battle, Madame?' Genevieve de Nanterre's eyes gleamed. 'A unicorn.' Keen to demonstrate his new-found favour with the King, rising nobleman Jean le Viste commissions six tapestries to adorn the walls of his chateau. He expects soldiers and bloody battlefields. But artist Nicolas des Innocents instead designs a seductive world of women, unicorns and flowers, using as his muses Le Viste's wife Genevieve and ripe young daughter Claude. In Belgium, as his designs spring to life under the weavers' fingers, Nicolas is inspired once more - by the master weaver's daughter Alienor and her mother Christine. They too will be captured by his threads.

Tracy Chevalier lives in North London with her husband and son. 'The Lady and the Unicorn' is her fourth novel.

'A beautifully written tale, I could not put it down!an exquisite, moving and convincing story, drawing realistic and rounded characters who each tell their aspect of the tale. The theme of the five senses is woven into the plot so cleverly that our perception of the novel is sharpened!This is not just a novel about the creation of a work of art, but a tale of ambition, lust, betrayal and heartbreak!a compelling and enormously enjoyable work.' Evening Standard "The Lady and the Unicorn" will perhaps eclipse "Pearl Earring." Guardian