The Black Tulip
1850
The year is 1672. Holland seethes with political violence, and two brothers will be torn apart by a mob hungry for blood. But in a prison cell, a different kind of obsession burns: Cornelius von Baerle has dedicated his life to cultivating the impossible, a black tulip. When he's imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, his only comforts are Rosa, the jailer's beautiful daughter, and the secret plan to finally bloom his masterpiece. Dumas weaves the brutal assassination of the De Witt brothers with the frenzy of tulipomania, creating a story where political betrayal and botanical obsession collide. What begins as a quest for beauty becomes a meditation on what we're willing to sacrifice for our passions, and who we become when the world tells us we're impossible. This is Dumas at his most romantic, his most playful, and his most profound.
Editions
X-Ray
“Sometimes one has suffered enough to have the right to never say: I am too happy.””
— Alexandre Dumas
“Misfortune does not help us to believe. ””
— Alexandre Dumas
“It is quite rare for God to provide a great man at the necessary moment to carry out some great deep, which is why when this unusual combination of circumstance does occur, history at once records the name of the chosen one and recommends him to the admiration of posterity. ””
— Alexandre Dumas
“There is nothing more galling to angry people than the coolness of those on whom they wish to vent their spleen.””
— Alexandre Dumas
“You scholars, you're in communication with the devil.””
— Alexandre Dumas
“God orders a man to do all he can to save his life.””
— Alexandre Dumas
“There are some catastrophes that a poor writer's pen cannot describe and which he is obliged to leave to the imagination of his readers with a bald statement of the facts.””
— Alexandre Dumas
“But there is this terrible thing in evil thoughts, that evil minds soon grow familiar with them.””
— Alexandre Dumas
“To despise flowers is to offend God.””
— Alexandre Dumas
![Alexandre Dumas, [Père] (Gutenberg Index)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd3b2n8gj62qnwr.cloudfront.net%2FCOVERS%2Fgutenberg_covers75k%2Febook-58024.png&w=3840&q=75)
