With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich, and ready to marry.įifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. The year is 1853, and the Habsburgs are Europe’s most powerful ruling family. If you are interested in women in history, you might also enjoy reading this book.New York Times bestselling author Allison Pataki follows up on her critically acclaimed debut novel, The Traitor’s Wife, with the little-known and tumultuous love story of “Sisi” the Austro-Hungarian Empress and captivating wife of Emperor Franz Joseph.

Does this explain the title, or does that more refer to the fact that she was not slated to marry the emperor to begin with? Anyway, it is good to see a girl of so much spunk from a carefree outdoorsy background, come out a victor on a difficult global stage, after suffering so much unnecessary difficulty and grief. The ending is rather unexpected, although alluded to in all the teaser snippets. There were also some weird clips of foreshadowing to keep you curious and reading on. Undoubtably, the author wanted to utilize all her copious research, right down to the gloves you had to wear to eat with. There was plenty of detail, however, to get buried in, which made you feel like you really were there, and understood the factors that were in play. This book (at 500 pages) was a little longer than maybe it needed to be, which was my only real complaint. One wonders what a book from the mother-in-law’s perspective would have to say? None-the-less, she led a remarkable life, and was the essential pivot point that kept Hungary under the Hapsburg rule, avoiding war. Both court life and her domineering mother-in-law were not what she would have wished, and her own ideas would have yielded much better results for all concerned. I appreciated SiSi’s pluck, as well as felt compassion for what she was up against.

The author, daughter of the former New York State governor, is of Hungarian descent herself, which is what piqued her interest to write about this exceptional mid-18th century European character, one I knew nothing of before.

It is a book of historical fiction about the Empress SiSi (Elizabeth) married to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph of the Hapsburg line. The Accidental Empress is the last book I finished in 2017 I enjoyed it and give it 4 stars.

The accidental empress reviews