Alexandre Dumas, pere published by DemoPublisher
Romance
published 912 days ago
about 75419 words

The Black Tulip is a historical novel written by Alexandre Dumas, père.
The story begins with a historical event — the 1672 lynching of the Dutch Grand Pensionary (roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister) Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis, by a wild mob of their own countrymen — considered by many as one of the most painful episodes in Dutch history, described by Dumas with a dramatic intensity.

The main plot line, involving fictional characters, takes place in the following eighteen months; only gradually does the reader understand its connection with the killing of the de Witt brothers.

The city of Haarlem, Netherlands has set a prize of 100,000 guilders to the person who can grow a black tulip, sparking competition between the country's best gardeners to win the money, honour and fame. The young and bourgeois Cornelius van Baerle has almost succeeded, but is suddenly thrown into the Loevestein prison. There he meets the prison guard's beautiful daughter Rosa, who will be his comfort and help, and at last his rescuer.

Chap. #	Title	# Words
1	Chapter 1. A Grateful People	3356
2	Chapter 2. The Two Brothers	2880
3	Chapter 3. The Pupil of John de Witt	3084
4	Chapter 4. The Murderers	3271
5	Chapter 5. The Tulip-fancier and his Neighbour	3086
6	Chapter 6. The Hatred of a Tulip-fancier	2510
7	Chapter 7. The Happy Man makes Acquaintance with Misfortune	3460
8	Chapter 8. An Invasion	2352
9	Chapter 9. The Family Cell	1625
10	Chapter 10. The Jailer's Daughter	1534
11	Chapter 11. Cornelius van Baerle's Will	3962
12	Chapter 12. The Execution	1112
13	Chapter 13. What was going on all this Time in the Mind of one of the Spectators	1434
14	Chapter 14. The Pigeons of Dort	1588
15	Chapter 15. The Little Grated Window	2157
16	Chapter 16. Master and Pupil	2213
17	Chapter 17. The First Bulb	2616
18	Chapter 18. Rosa's Lover	1941
19	Chapter 19. The Maid and the Flower	2230
20	Chapter 20. The Events which took place during those Eight Days	2775
21	Chapter 21. The Second Bulb	2380
22	Chapter 22. The Opening of the Flower	1975
23	Chapter 23. The Rival	2089
24	Chapter 24. The Black Tulip changes Masters	1427
25	Chapter 25. The President van Systens	2077
26	Chapter 26. A Member of the Horticultural Society	2651
27	Chapter 27. The Third Bulb	2521
28	Chapter 28. The Hymn of the Flowers	2410
29	Chapter 29. In which Van Baerle, before leaving Loewestein, settles Accounts with Gryphus	2172
30	Chapter 30. Wherein the Reader begins to guess the Kind of Execution that was awaiting Van Baerle	1071
31	Chapter 31. Haarlem	2239
32	Chapter 32. A Last Request	1501
33	Chapter 33. Conclusion	1720