La Tulipe Noire
1844
In the sweltering summer of 1672, the Netherlands descends into madness. The de Witt brothers, pillars of Dutch resistance against William of Orange, are torn apart by a mob whipped into frenzy. Against this blood-soaked backdrop, Cornelius van Baerle, their godson, cares only for one thing: cultivating the impossible flower, a tulip of absolute blackness. Imprisoned for his loyalty to the brothers, Cornelius tends his precious bulbs while revolution storms outside the prison walls. Dumas weaves a tender tale of obsession and redemption, where a flower's fate becomes entangled with the survival of a young woman, a prisoner's faith, and a nation's violent birth. The Black Tulip is unlike any other Dumas novel: less swashbuckling, more contemplative, it asks what humanity will sacrifice for beauty, and what beauty might yet save.
