Sisi: Empress on Her Own: A Novel

Well written, great book! The historical accuracy is very good. The writers emotional additions based on the history were so well done. Highly recommend this book!

This is the second of a pair of novels by Pataki about Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria (and later Austria-Hungary) during the second half of the nineteenth century. Elisabeth, widely known by her childhood nickname of Sisi, was the Princess Diana of her day—renowned for her beauty, loved by many but criticized by many others, and mired in an unhappy marriage and an uneasy (at best) relationship with her royal in-laws and their court. I strongly recommend reading the first novel of the pair, The Accidental Empress, before reading this one; Pataki does briefly sketch the events of the first half of Elisabeth’s life in this second book, but readers will have much more understanding of Elisabeth’s character if they take the books in order. This book begins in 1868, shortly after the first book ends, and continues to Elisabeth’s assassination by an anarchist thirty years later—an event foreshadowed in sections throughout the book. It has less romance and more tragedy than the first book, though Sisi does have a strong attraction to Bay Middleton, her English companion during endless hunts in Britain in the first half of the book. The tragedies include the mysterious death of her cousin and friend, “Mad” King Ludwig of Bavaria, builder of the ultimate fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein, and the suicide of her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, at the family’s Mayerling hunting lodge in the Vienna woods in 1889. Pataki sticks close to the facts of Elisabeth’s well-documented life, but she is writing a novel, not a nonfiction biography, and she is writing it from Sisi’s point of view (though in the third person). Since Sisi was an emotion-centered person, the book therefore is also emotion centered, and it tends to take Sisi’s side more than a nonfiction book might, somewhat glossing over her contributions to the unhappiness of her marriage and to the tragic mess Rudolf makes of his short life. Despite this, I found Sisi less appealing than I did in the first book; she criticizes Franz Josef for his unrelenting devotion to the duty of running the empire, but she seldom seems to consider that she, too, might have a job to do as an empress and a mother and ought to make some attempt to do it now and then rather than spending all her time traveling, horseback riding, and getting her hair done. As in the first book, I think Pataki does a good job as a historical novelist, making her characters lively and basically sympathetic. Whether I agreed with their attitudes and actions or not, I really felt by the end of the books that I knew these people—and that’s what a novel should achieve. I strongly recommend both books to anyone who enjoys royal dramas.

Sisi, Allison Pataki’s third novel (and sequel to The Accidental Empress) is a marvelous work of historical fiction. At times this genre can be dense, but Pataki has a flair that few do. Pataki demonstrates an ability to convey a painting to her readers of some very complex, but real, characters. She creates a landscape of Europe in the late 19th Century. Her Empress Sisi, a very colorful persona, comes alive in this wonderful and fun book. While she writes in light hearted way, there is no conceivable way that one comes out from this read without knowing (or perhaps even more likely, feeling) more about 19th Century European monarchies. Pataki takes the reader away into the drama of Sisi’s complex and rigid world. Clearly some of it is her own making but, regardless, this is a clever work of writing - seeing the inner workings of a woman who is trapped in a marriage she once she so wanted. This hierarchy of European monarchies is written of in a truly palpable sense as even their existence is questioned by revolutions and disequilibrium in the balance of power of the nation-states. Sisi’s mother-in-law, Sophie the archduchess, plays a perfect role and is used splendidly for historical context stating such things as “the whole world slept soundly at night. With Austria at the helm of Europe, it was the age of the great monarchs. Dynasties were assured; all was in its proper order. People knew who their leaders were. There was none of this bickering over constitutions and revolutions and laissez-faire governments. There was peace. There was order!” Some truly wonderful dialogue. Pataki brings Sisi and the Hapsburg Empire to light in her skilled water-colored writing. I found myself whisked away in the intrigue and the drama of it all. The men that fascinate her and are obviously forbidden – they simply highlight her opulent life as a prisoner of her own throne. These novels continue to impress me and I hope Ms. Pataki might find other characters in history she finds worthy to write about to all of her readers’ enjoyment. This is good and fun writing. It obviously makes for a grand read.

Interesting and well researched. I visited Schunbrun in 25 years ago have always been fascinated by Sisi

I absolutely LOVED Allison Pataki's first book in this series "Accidental Empress" so couldn't wait to read the sequel, "Sisi...." While the descriptive writing and character development were similarly excellent, the story became entirely repetitive (Sisi is unhappy with the politics, power struggles, and formalities of state so she runs away again to some far-off estate, against her husband's wishes, and there she will do a lot of horseback riding and hiking, and potentially discover a romantic interest). That storyline is interesting once, but why repeat is several times with different destination and different love interest? Maybe it was in an effort to accurately capture the true history, but it just became very redundant to the reader. I actually found the epilogue to be far and away the most interesting part of the book.

A very engaging fictional biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, "Sisi: Empress on Her Own" is a sequel to "The Accidental Empress." While the first book covered young Sisi's life through the early years of her marriage, this one follows her through midlife up to her assassination in 1898. I had read the first book a few months ago, so I found it easy to get into this sequel. I'm not so sure someone new to the story would appreciate it as much. The book moves through some fascinating -- and fact-based -- stories, including the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolph (the "Mayerling affair") and the breakdown of Sisi's cousin Mad King Ludwig. Queen Victoria, Empress Eugenie, Kaiser Wilhelm, Tsar Alexander II, Edward VII, the Shah of Iran, Earl Spencer, and others also wander through the story. The first half of the book is excellent, although it sometimes reads more like a romance novel than historical fiction, with Sisi riding at breakneck speeds with her paramour. The second half -- where most of the historical action comes into play -- is a little slower. Toward the very end, Pataki seems to run out of steam a little, trying to wrap up the story quickly.

This fascinating book about Sisi, the Beloved Empress of Austria is simultaneously a history lesson, a psychological case study into damaging family dynamics, a Big Five Personality case study among the dynamics of different people, and a dazzling look at beauty, celebrity, and mystique. Sisi's upbringing and life as the Empress, especially under her totalitarian mother in law and aunt, who thought nothing of ripping her babies away from her and keeping them from her, is beyond tragic and portrays how "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." This is an enthralling book in to about half of the life of Austria's beautiful child bride with the floor length hair bedecked in diamonds who adored her horses, adventure, travel, who worked desperately to keep her husband's love and affection and who may have worked herself in to being anorexic due to the intense pressures she faced that not even a beloved empresses wealth could untangle.

I was absolutely swept up in this story, and couldn't put it down! It became something of an obsession with me, and I was thrilled with the events of Sisi's life. I looked up every historical detail of the book and realized that it was a precursor to World War I and later World War II. However, the ridiculous supernatural ending spoiled it for me. I wish Allison Pataki had stuck to the realistic facts of this highly romantic figure of Sisi. I still gave it five stars as the book was so beautifully written and the story so compelling.

Muy interesante me ha gustado mucho.

Magnificent

After watching The Last Empress on Netflix I wanted to know more about Sisi. This account is such a compelling read. I love the author's style and appreciate the extensive research and effort putting this book together. I didn't want it to end.

For anyone who's ever been even remotely intrigued by Sisi's life, this and the Accidental Empress are essential reading. Both books are poignant, historically accurate and beautifully written accounts of her and the emperor's lives. Highly recommended!

Great book, I loved the TV series but the book is more detailed.