A review by booksbythecup
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
"You don’t know, sir, what I suffer. You don’t know the struggle going on in my heart and mind." - The Black Tulip, Alexandre Dumas
Tulips are a BIG deal in The Netherlands. I discovered that when I visited a few months ago. So when I started reading this book, I felt like I'd been in some of these places before.
The story within the pages are more succinctly crafted than some of the author's more well known works (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers). But don't for one moment be fooled into thinking it doesn't contain a historical backdrop, suspense, love and jealousy.
The Black Tulip is set in The Netherlands (how I regret the missed photo opportunity in the Hague a few months ago) surrounding the 1672 lynching of John DeWitt and his brother Cornelius. I felt carried along in the mobs uproar, not fully understanding why these two men lost their lives. But the stage is set for another story is cultivated, takes root and blossoms, eventually coinciding with the opening scenes.
Cornelius Van Baerle, dedicated tulip-fancier, is determined to grow a black tulip, to win a monetary prize, but more importantly, to have a tulip named after him. Unbeknownst to Van Baerle, his rival, Boxtel, plots and schemes to steal the tulip bulbs, even laying false accusations against Van Baerle leading to imprisonment. Will the hero of this story, the black tulip triumph?
Tulips are a BIG deal in The Netherlands. I discovered that when I visited a few months ago. So when I started reading this book, I felt like I'd been in some of these places before.
The story within the pages are more succinctly crafted than some of the author's more well known works (The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers). But don't for one moment be fooled into thinking it doesn't contain a historical backdrop, suspense, love and jealousy.
The Black Tulip is set in The Netherlands (how I regret the missed photo opportunity in the Hague a few months ago) surrounding the 1672 lynching of John DeWitt and his brother Cornelius. I felt carried along in the mobs uproar, not fully understanding why these two men lost their lives. But the stage is set for another story is cultivated, takes root and blossoms, eventually coinciding with the opening scenes.
Cornelius Van Baerle, dedicated tulip-fancier, is determined to grow a black tulip, to win a monetary prize, but more importantly, to have a tulip named after him. Unbeknownst to Van Baerle, his rival, Boxtel, plots and schemes to steal the tulip bulbs, even laying false accusations against Van Baerle leading to imprisonment. Will the hero of this story, the black tulip triumph?