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Sisi

Empress on Her Own : a Novel
Apr 20, 2016TheresaAJ rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This second book by Allison Pataki imagines the life of Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary from 1868 to her death in 1898. When her fourth child was born a girl, Sisi got permission from her husband to raise this child alone in Hungary. Only the news that her son Rudy was being abused and tortured as part of his "becoming a man" brought her back to Vienna and the reviled court life. This novel explores Sisi's restlessness, her growing detachment from her court role, and her relationships with men outside her marriage. Tragedy stalks her as various members of her extended family succumb to the "Wittelsbach disease" which appears to be manic-depression and melancholy. The book ends with her assassination in Geneva in 1898 just as she and Franz Josef appear to be reconciling. As the author says in her historical notes, "You can't make these things up!"