“The Accidental Empress” - Allison Pataki

 👑 Although I read TAE last year, I write this review as I happen to be reading the sequel. Pataki writes an engaging narrative that is rich with historical detail. I recommend TAE to historical fiction lovers.

👑 Sisi is known to history as the Austro-Hungarian Empress - wife of Emperor Franz Joseph - famed for her beauty and political savvy. 

👑 It is 1853. The Hapsburg Empire is mighty. Young Sisi travels to the Hapsburg court with her elder sister who is engaged to Emperor Franz Joseph. Days later, the Emperor chooses to end his engagement in order to marry Sisi instead - let the palace intrigue begin!

👑 I must confess that my knowledge of the Austro-Hungarian empire has ebbed considerably since my high school days. Part of the reason I picked up TAE was to learn more about the geopolitics of this major player in 19th century European history.

👑 When I picked up TAE, I had just finished “America’s First Daughter” which included details about the simmering tensions in France leading to the French Revolution. TAE jumps forward in time. Revolutionary winds are once again blowing across Europe.

👑 Franz Joseph is an institution. He is the single unifying factor for a wide-ranging empire comprised of diverse ethnicities, languages, and religions. In TAE the need for an heir is paramount to maintain continuity of rule for the mighty Hapsburgs.

👑 The juiciest aspect of TEA comes in the form of the formidable Archduchess Sophie, the matriarch of the Hapsburg’s notoriously cutthroat court. Sophie connived to place her son on the throne and she is now his top advisor.  If you’ve read Philippa Gregory’s Tudors and Plantagenets series, she’ll immediately put you in mind of good old Margie Beaufort. Before Sisi even arrived in Vienna, I was already nervous for her. If Sisi could muster some ice in her veins, Sisi the Empress v. Sophie the Archduchess could be an epic showdown. But Sisi is so young and in love. She’s wildly unprepared for Hapsburg court intrigue (Sophie isn’t wrong about that), and she is passionate but naive. Will she fold under Sophie’s dominating ways?