The Black Tulip

The Black Tulip is one of the most unusual novels by the great Dumas. The events of the novel take place not in the writer's native France, but in Holland during the era of the legendary tulip mania of the 17th century. Huge fortunes are made from tulips, and the same tulips ruin the richest people in the country. Everyone trades in tulips: aristocrats and commoners, merchants and politicians. For tulips, honor, conscience, and even a woman's love are sold. But one day, the gardener Cornelius van Baerle manages to find a way to grow a flower of the rarest color and incredible beauty. This treasure could enrich him forever - or cost him his life…