Chronicles of the Black Tulip
4 primary works
Book 1
It's 1599, the Age of Discovery in Europe. Bren Owen, growing up in the small town of Map on the coast of Britannia, is inspired by the arcane maps his father creates as a cartographer for a map mogul named Rand McNally. When a dying sailor gives Bren a strange gift, cracking the hidden code could lead Bren to a fabled lost treasure-- as well as great danger and an unusual friend named Mouse.
Book 2
The only way for Bren, Mouse, and Barrett to all get what they want is to work together on a dangerous journey into the heart of China, a kingdom long closed to outsiders, where the greatest secrets about Mouse and Bren are waiting to be unveiled.
Book 2
An engrossing fantasy, a high-seas adventure, an alternate history epic—this is the richly imagined and gorgeously realized second book in acclaimed author Barry Wolverton’s Chronicles of the Black Tulip, perfect for fans of The Glass Sentence and the Books of Beginning series.
A magical white jade stone and a map inscribed in bone that may be the key to an even greater mystery—this is the treasure Bren and Mouse have found buried on the Vanishing Island.
Mouse is determined to follow the map to a place called the Dragon’s Gate, convinced it will explain who she really is and the powers she possesses. Bren has had enough adventure for one lifetime and would like nothing more than to return to his father in Map. But nothing goes according to plan when the survivors of the Albatross are rescued by Lady Jean Barrett, a charismatic archaeologist with a sense of destiny.
Barrett is on a quest for the Eight Immortals, ancient artifacts she believes are buried in the tomb of China’s first emperor—the location of which has been hidden for nearly two thousand years. The only way for Bren, Mouse, and Barrett to all get what they want is to work together on a dangerous journey into the heart of China, a kingdom long closed to outsiders, where the greatest secrets about Mouse and Bren are waiting to be unveiled.
Book 3
An engrossing fantasy, a high-seas adventure, an alternate history epic--this is the richly imagined and gorgeously realized third book in acclaimed author Barry Wolverton's Chronicles of the Black Tulip, perfect for fans of The Glass Sentence and the Books of Beginning series.
After the harrowing and life-changing events at the Dragon's Gate, Bren wants nothing more than to make his way back to England. Finding the answers to the great mysteries he'd been chasing only found him questioning why he'd ever pursued them in the first place, and now he's lost his best friend, forever. There's nothing left for him but to return home and hope his father hasn't given up on him.
But just because Bren is done with adventure does not mean adventure is done with him. On his way to escape from China, Bren is gifted a rare artifact, with a connection to a place no one has set foot upon. Soon he's fallen in with a mysterious Indian noblewoman bent on discovering an ancient power and leading her country against colonial rule.
The only way home, it seems, is through helping her--and as Bren wonders what she's willing to sacrifice in order to return home a hero, he must ask himself the same questions.