Sissi: The Last Empress
The fictionalized life story of Elisabeth of Wittelsbach, commonly nicknamed “Sissi,” forms the spine of Danny Saunders’ novel.
In 1854 Sissi married Franz Josef I, the emperor of Austria, and thus became an empress without ever having been over-fond of the whole machinery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She and Franz Josef forge a bond that sees them through the birth and death of several children and growing unrest in the Empire’s vast territories.
Readers who know Sissi’s eventual fate – she was assassinated in Geneva in 1898 – will find the energetic spirit with which Saunders portrays her extra poignant; in fact, in terms of dramatic presentation, she towers over all the other characters in the book, some of whom are occasionally too wooden to evoke much empathy.
The narrative voice, too, can sometimes be a bit flat, but the high drama of the Austrian court in its twilight years compensates by providing a steady current of interest.
