The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier

While in Paris, I visited the Musee de Cluny, which houses the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.  I read this book years ago when it first came out (original publishing date is 2003, so right around there).  When I found out the tapestries were real and in Paris, I immediately wanted to see them.  They are incredibly awesome, worth the admission price to the museum.

Now for the book, Nicholas des Innocents in a Parisian artist known for his portraitures of women.  He is commissioned by a French noblemen to draw designs for tapestries. The tapestries are to be completed by a Brussels family of weavers.  Nicholas gets too close to the daughter of the noblemen, and then too close to the daughter of the weavers. It's a bawdy tale, but those tapestries do get woven. Each chapters is told from the point of view of someone else, a technique which works really well for the story.  

Many of the characters are really interesting, including the blind daughter of the weaver who manages to help her family weave.  She is also an expert gardener and the soul of the family.  The story happens around the same time many Gothic cathedrals, namely Notre Dame, are being erected, which adds a fascinating backstory.  In an age of zealous religiousness, many of the characters are forced by society to conform to be the ideal pious citizen while trying to maintain their individuality as non-believers.  It's an interesting dichotomy.