Historical fiction loaded with court intrigue featuring a strong female lead is right in my wheelhouse. SISI was all that and more for me. I fell in love on page one and was heartbroken at the end. I’ve never been happier with a book.

Married at 16 to the Emperor of the Austrian Empire, Elisabeth, known affectionately as Sisi, is considered to be the most beautiful woman in the empire and beyond. Under the jewels and silk, Sisi falters under the pressure of the Viennese court. She’s stifled by the protocol she must adhere to --- baffled by how easily her husband and children so readily accept the court structure and its strict etiquette --- and what she longs for is to explore, to be free of the prying eyes and ears of the court. While she once thought she loved her husband, she has come to deeply resent him, and especially her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who has taken over the raising of her children and all but pushed her out of her role as their mother. Sisi retreats to her castle in Hungary with her youngest daughter, the only child she will be allowed to raise as her own and love with no one around to criticize her choices.

"Historical fiction loaded with court intrigue featuring a strong female lead is right in my wheelhouse. SISI was all that and more for me. I fell in love on page one and was heartbroken at the end. I’ve never been happier with a book."

In Hungary, known for her love of horses and the outdoors, Sisi races through fields experiencing a freedom she was never allowed in Vienna. Frequent pleas from her husband to come back go unanswered, and only when her son, whom she barely knows, needs her help does she agree to return. But even her children cannot stop her from feeling restless and unhappy. She craves freedom and takes whatever opportunity she can to indulge her wanderlust --- even at the cost of her marriage, family and country.

Sisi is a fascinating character. Clearly a woman of deep passions, she never seems to be able to find her solace in life. Her husband and two oldest children bring her no joy, and she doesn’t look to them to bring her happiness either. She finds love everywhere but with the man with whom she shares a life, a family and an empire. Many consider her selfish, uncaring and cold, but if you look deeper, she’s truly a scared woman running as fast and as far as she can from a life she didn’t want and can’t seem to reconcile her feelings about. As she watches her family fall into the depths of depression and madness, she wonders about herself as well. This is what makes her so absorbing. As a reader, you become wrapped up so tightly in her life and the emotional ups and downs that you get on that rollercoaster with her. At times she’s infuriating and self-centered, but in many ways it’s her only defense mechanism in a world so full of strict protocols and unhappiness.

I’ve come to expect a thread of melancholy in historical fiction of this kind, and it wouldn’t be as good a story without the intrigue and trials of the ruling class. There’s no shortage of that in SISI either. It’s compelling, sad and infuriating, and on the whole, you’ll struggle with your feelings just as Sisi does. You’ll want to yell at her, yet you’ll also sympathize with her.

Allison Pataki’s third novel, a sequel to 2015’s THE ACCIDENTAL EMPRESS, is a wonderful read. It’s so easy to be swept away emotionally and feel utterly devastated at the end, but I’m so happy to have experienced it all.