Keywords: Dutch history, Rampjaar (1672), tulips, historical fiction, humor

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: short medium long

Country: The Netherlands

Synopsis from Goodreads

Cornelius van Baerle, a respectable tulip-grower, lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But after his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in deadly political intrigue and is falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival. Condemned to life imprisonment, his only comfort is Rosa, the jailer’s beautiful daughter, and together they concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret.

Dumas’ last major historical novel is a tale of romantic love, jealousy and obsession, interweaving historical events surrounding the brutal murders of two Dutch statesman in 1672 with the phenomenon of tulipomania that gripped seventeenth-century Holland.

Review

I was not prepared for how much fun I was going to have with The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas, and for once I am not being sarcastic.

I should start with a confession: I don’t like Jules Verne and as I was growing up, Dumas was always mentioned in the same breath as Verne, so I became convinced that their writing was the same, and I avoided Dumas for most of my life. That changed when I finally picked up The Count of Monte Cristo, and I cannot tell you how much I loved it. I don’t think I have a review of it on the blog, but maybe I should write one. After such a great experience, I decided to read more Dumas, and that is how I ended up with The Black Tulip.

It was the best read I’ve had in so, so long. I laughed constantly. I don’t know whether that was down to the writing itself or to a fantastic narrator, since I listened to it as an audiobook, but I had the best time.

The plot

“It was written,” thought poor Cornelius, “that I should not, in this world, give my name either to a child, to a flower, or to a book, the three things by which a man’s memory is perpetuated.”

I don’t want to give away too much, so here is the basic setup. The book is about tulips, the Netherlands, Cornelius van Baerle, Rosa Gryphus, and Isaac Boxtel, all set against the Dutch political crisis of 1672, known as the Rampjaar, or “the disaster year,” when the Dutch Republic faced invasion and a great deal of internal turmoil. Cornelius van Baerle is a tulip grower who is trying to cultivate a completely black tulip and win a prize competition in Haarlem. Instead, he ends up in prison.

The book opens with the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt, real and influential political figures who fell victim to the political violence of 1672, and we are given that serious historical context. Then we meet Cornelius van Baerle, who wants to enter the tulip competition for the prize money, which was a good amount.

Enter Isaac Boxtel, another tulip enthusiast, who hears that Van Baerle might actually succeed in growing the black tulip. His reaction is to ask himself how he can sabotage this man. He finds a document that connects Van Baerle to his godfather, who happens to be Cornelis de Witt, one of the men killed at the beginning of the book. Being linked to someone who has just been publicly killed is not a good thing. Van Baerle is accused of treason, and because the political turmoil is so extreme, no one gives him a real trial. He ends up in prison. Boxtel is delighted and plans to steal the black tulip bulbs, three of them, never stopping to think that Van Baerle might have taken them to prison with him.

Think about this for a moment. When I think of Alexandre Dumas, I think of one of the greatest writers in literature, a point of reference in universal literature. And then you pick up his book, and it is about a man so envious of another man’s tulips that he does everything he can to put him in prison so he can steal them and win the prize. Isn’t that proof that people don’t change, and that we deal with the same nonsense today as people did in the 1600s? Crazy.

Things get even funnier when Rosa Gryphus enters the story. She is the daughter of Cornelius’ jailer: intelligent, compassionate, determined. She becomes his ally and his love interest, and she helps him cultivate the black tulips. There is not much more to tell, and I won’t. The book is thin and won’t take you long to read. But I have to say that the premise is absolutely crazy, and I loved it.

The developing love between Rosa and Cornelius is pure Comedy Central. I could practically see Rosa rolling her eyes when Cornelius tells her he loves her, and she asks, “Okay, but do you love me more than you love your tulips?” And he answers something along the lines of “Uh… next question, please.” It was hilarious.

Of course, the historical background is not joyful. If you want to read it more seriously, the book shows the extent to which jealousy can take hold of a person, how obsession makes you lose yourself and stop seeing how ridiculous your behavior has become. Isaac Boxtel even takes on a different identity, and Rosa ends up before William of Orange, trying to prove that Boxtel was pretending to be someone else. As a woman and a jailer’s daughter, she finds it hard to be taken seriously.

Still, it is a happy ending book. There is nothing depressing about it, unless you go looking for the very serious analysis.

To Conclude this Review

I can recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone, especially if you are going through a rough time. My past few months have been difficult. I’ve been tired nonstop, and I’m not feeling confident about my health. This book felt like a ray of sunshine. It may not compare with the heavyweights of the genre, but it is a lovely book to read and simply enjoy.

If you haven’t read The Black Tulip yet, I strongly recommend it. And if you have other favorite Dumas books, I am now very much open to suggestions.

That’s it for now, and hopefully we’ll meet again next week. I’m currently trying to finish a book I started three years ago, put on hold for two years, and picked up again. I won’t tell you the title, only that it’s a fantasy of over 1,200 pages and part of a series. If you read fantasy, you may already know which one I mean. I’m excited to finish it and write a review, not of the book alone, but of the series so far, since I haven’t reviewed the earlier books individually.

Have a fantastic weekend, and see you next week.