Sisi: Empress on Her Own

In bestselling author Allison Pataki’s highly anticipated new novel, Sisi: Empress on Her Own, the tantalizing story behind one of history’s unsung leading ladies, the Habsburg Empress Elizabeth “Sisi,” is revealed. In imperial Vienna, where the court halls buzzed with waltzes and champagne, as well as temptation, rivals, and cutthroat intrigue, the intensely personal tale of Empress Sisi unraveled. The Princess Diana of her time, Sisi was famously beautiful, a mother of four, and the wife of the world’s most powerful emperor, Franz Joseph (whom she unintentionally stole away from her sister), making her reign anything but simple. Against the glittering backdrop of the Habsburg Court and the rich, romantic, and volatile time period—marked by pivotal events such as the opening of the Suez Canal, Vienna’s World Exhibition, and the lead up to WWI—Sisi, the beloved “Fairy Queen,” won hearts and broke hearts, fighting battles both epic and poignantly intimate as a woman well ahead of her time during a true Golden Age in European history.