The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier (Paperback) 04-12-2006

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.