The Black Tulip

The Black Tulip

About the Book

Cornelius von Baerle lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But when his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in a deadly political intrigue. Falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival, Cornelius is condemned to life in prison. His only comfort is Rosa, the jailer's beautiful daughter, who helps him concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. As Robin Buss explains in his informative introduction, Dumas infuses his story with elements from the history of the Dutch Republic (including two brutal murders) and Holland's seventeenth-century "tulipmania" phenomenon.

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About the Author

Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) lived a life as romantic as that depicted in his famous novels. He was born in Villers-Cotterêts, France. His early education was scanty, but his beautiful handwriting secured him a position in Paris in 1822 with the du’Orléans, where he read voraciously and began to write. His first play, Henri III et sa cour (1829), scored a resounding success for its author and the romantic movement. His lavish spending and flamboyant habits led to the construction of his fabulous Château de Monte-Cristo, and in 1851 he fled to Belgium to escape creditors. Dumas’s overall literary output reached more than 277 volumes, but his brilliant historical novels made him the most universally read of all French novelists. With collaborators, mainly Auguste Maquet, Dumas wrote such works as The Three Musketeers (1843–1844); its sequels, Twenty Years After (1845) and the great mystery The Man in the Iron Mask (1845–1850); and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844). His work ignored historical accuracy, psychology, and analysis, but its thrilling adventure and exuberant inventiveness continued to delight readers, and Dumas remains one of the prodigies of nineteenth-century French literature. More by Alexandre Dumas
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About the Author

Robin Buss
Robin Buss is a writer and translator who works for the Independent on Sunday and as television critic for The Times Educational Supplement. He studied at the University of Paris, where he earned a degree and a doctorate in French literature. He is part-author of the article “French Literature” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and has published critical studies of works by Vigny and Cocteau and three books on European cinema, The French Through Their Films (1988), Italian Films (1989), and French Film Noir (1994). He has also translated a number of volumes for Penguin Classics. More by Robin Buss
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About the Author

Robin Buss
Robin Buss is a writer and translator who works for the Independent on Sunday and as television critic for The Times Educational Supplement. He studied at the University of Paris, where he earned a degree and a doctorate in French literature. He is part-author of the article “French Literature” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and has published critical studies of works by Vigny and Cocteau and three books on European cinema, The French Through Their Films (1988), Italian Films (1989), and French Film Noir (1994). He has also translated a number of volumes for Penguin Classics. More by Robin Buss
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About the Author

Robin Buss
Robin Buss is a writer and translator who works for the Independent on Sunday and as television critic for The Times Educational Supplement. He studied at the University of Paris, where he earned a degree and a doctorate in French literature. He is part-author of the article “French Literature” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and has published critical studies of works by Vigny and Cocteau and three books on European cinema, The French Through Their Films (1988), Italian Films (1989), and French Film Noir (1994). He has also translated a number of volumes for Penguin Classics. More by Robin Buss
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