Sisi: Empress On Her Own, by Allison Pataki (2016)
I picked up this book thinking that it was about the Chinese Empress Cixi. Instead, the book was about Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary, known as Sisi, the wife of Emperor Frans Joseph. The novel follows the life of Sisi from age 30 to her murder at age 60. She felt constrained by the formality of the Hapsburg dynasty so would spend as little time in Vienna as possible. Her husband adored him, but she felt that she was a pawn in a political marriage.
The novel describes her relationships, or lack thereof, with her children. Her domineering mother-in-law took over the education and rearing of her oldest children, so Sisi was determined to insulate her youngest child from the rigors of court life.
The author did a lot of research in crafting this novel. I found myself stopping often and researching to see if events described in the book really happened. They did.
An interesting look at the Hapsburg empire in the latter part of the 1800s.
Read: January 4, 2018
4 Stars
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