"Mon seul désir." My one desire. This is the longing that binds the characters together in The Lady and the Unicorn, a novel of suspense by Tracy Chevalier. Set in France and Belgium during the 15th Century, we follow the egomaniacal artist Nicolas Des Innocents, who is commissioned to do a series of paintings that will become tapestries in Jean Le Viste's Grande Salle.
At first Nicolas declines, but he agrees to the commission after meeting Le Viste's daughter, named Claude because her father had always hoped for a boy. Not only is Nicolas thwarted by his place in society, but he also must overcome the many ladies in waiting that constantly swarm around the girl. One day, Claude overhears her Maman talking with the priest and revealing that Maman too has a secret desire:
I hid behind a pillar near the pew where she sat with the priest, but her voice was so low that I had to creep quite close. All I heard was `Ca c'est mon seul désir' before one of the priests saw me and chased me away. `Mon seul désir.' I murmured to myself. My one desire. The phrase is so bewitching that I repeat it to myself all day long.
As the novel travels by first person through each main character's head, and we discover that each longs for something that seems just out of reach. Chevalier consistently passes this baton between her chapters as skillfully as any experienced relay runner, stepping between the worlds of the nobles, the ladies in waiting, the artist and the tapestry-maker, his family and his assistants. As the artisans race against time to complete the tapestries on deadline, Nicolas is drawn closer to his own one désir. But while he strives to get closer to Claude, his past desires come back to haunt him.
Chevalier pulls us through this story with perfect pace completing the tapestries and bringing all of the threads to a satisfying conclusion. Elegant description throughout will remind you that you are in the hands of a skilled craftsperson--not a weaver or cartoonist or painter as Chevalier depicts in her book, but a thoughtful lover of words.
The tapestries themselves tell a story in six frames, the meanings and symbolism of the works debated much over the years. As a reader, I enjoyed Chevalier's interpretation. She writes her story paralleling that of the artwork in its intricacy and imaginative detail. Five of the tapestries depict the senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Chevalier also weaves these senses throughout her prose, making for an enjoyable read.
The book includes color pages of the real tapestries, which currently hang on the walls of the Musée de Cluny in Paris. The artist, however, remains unknown. If you go to Paris to visit them, you can ask to see the Lady with Unicorn tapestries, or try asking like this: La Dame a la Licorne.