The Black Tulip

The quest to grow a black tulip doesn't have the same narrative appeal as Dumas's COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO or THREE MUSKETEERS, but it provides adventure enough for those who love the great melodramas of the nineteenth century. Peter Joyce delivers a fine rendition of Dumas's meaty prose and is especially good at depicting villains and brutal jailers, less effective at conveying his nubile heroine. Although this is a lesser work by Dumas, the author's judicious detachment, voiced so well in Joyce's calm and untroubled delivery, holds the promise throughout that innocence will triumph and justice eventually prevail: The villain will be vanquished, and the power of the black tulip will somehow open the prison doors and unite the fateful lovers. D.A.W. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2012

Late 17th-century Holland was not immune to the epidemic of civil unrest that began to spread throughout Europe, with leaders overthrown and killed and innocent people put in jail. Nineteenth-century French author Dumas, pere (The Count of Monte Cristo; The Three Musketeers), often used important historical events as backdrop for his tales. In this case, a young Dutchman, unfairly jailed for political reasons, is intent on growing the mythical black tulip. While not Dumas's best work, the story is full of adventure and compelling human interaction. Peter Joyce gives a competent reading of a somewhat stiff translation. Recommended for lovers of classic 19th-century fiction.--I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA

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