"The Black Tulip" is one of the best acknowledged & popular works of Mr. Dumas. In the initial pages, there is a brief but intense description of the political situation. The story is centered around the passion of the Dutch for tulips, and the race for growing the black tulip, a near impossible task. The innocent tulip grower, when very close to revealing the secret of the black tulip, is accused of a crime he has not committed, thanks to the jealous rivalry of his sly neighbor, also a tulip grower. Dumas blends, with utmost skill, the rivalry of the two tulip growers, with the growing passionate love of the simple & innocent tulip grower. The story is told with unmatched & admirable skill, and in the true Dumas style, gives a dramatic & yet a painfully realistic picture of the situation. A novel which moves at a breathtakingly cracking pace, & holds the reader glued till he has reached the final page. Words have never painted a better or more realistic picture. The characters are described with so much of creativity that the reader identifies with each one of them. With admirable innovation, Dumas describes all the sensitive emotions that capture the human heart, namely love, jealousy, hatred, honesty, and loyalty. The three lines of theme, namely that of romance, politics & jealousy thread into one of the most beautiful works of the classics. There is no age group for a book like the Black Tulip. Children may find a abridged version better to begin with, but the original book is, needless to say, the one to be read. If any book deserves full marks, the 'black tulip' is one of them.

-Neeldhara