In the bitter winter of 1636, Amsterdam is consumed by a glittering madness: the Tulip Mania. Fortunes are made and lost overnight on the promise of a single flower. Clara van den Berg, an impoverished botanical artist, discovers her recently deceased father left her a crushing mountain of debt—and one incredibly rare Semper Augustus bulb hidden beneath his floorboards. Hunted by Henrik Dircks, a ruthless and wealthy tulip speculator, Clara must navigate the smoke-filled taverns and treacherous auctions of the Dutch futures market. Armed only with her father’s secret, her extraordinary artistic talent, and the help of a quiet botanist named Pieter, Clara must outwit the most dangerous men in the city before the fragile economic bubble bursts and takes her life down with it.
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