Book description
Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known to her family as Sisi, belongs
to a famous love story of European royalty - in 1853 the Emperor Franz
Josef, the most eligible bachelor in Europe, fell in love with her at
first sight when she was fifteen; they were married the next year. On
the surface, it was a fairytale marriage, all the more poignant, with
hindsight, because her death signalled the twilight years of the
Habsburg Empire. At the time of its first publication in 1988,
Brigitte Hamann's biography, which tells Elisabeth's story from her
birth as a member of the Bavarian nobility to her assassination at the
hands of an Italian anarchist, led to a revised and deeper
understanding of Elisabeth. During her lifetime she was idolised
solely for her grace and beauty; now, for the first time, the Empress
was portrayed as a stronger character, bitter at her marriage, seeking
independence, and struggling against the powerful influence of her
mother-in-law, the Archduchess Sophie. Researched by a respected
historian, this is the definitive account of Elisabeth's life, death
and legacy.
