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Also by Allison Pataki:

It Girl, March 2026
Hardcover / e-Book
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post, February 2022
Hardcover / e-Book
The Queen's Fortune, February 2020
Paperback / e-Book
Sisi, March 2016
Hardcover / e-Book
The Accidental Empress, February 2015
Hardcover / e-Book
The Traitor's Wife, February 2014
Paperback / e-Book

SISI
By: Allison Pataki

Empress on Her Own

Dial
March 2016
On Sale: March 8, 2016
Featuring: Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary
464 pages
ISBN: 0812989058
EAN: 9780812989052
Kindle: B00Z3FYSAK
Hardcover / e-Book
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Historical

For readers of Philippa Gregory, Paula McLain, and Daisy Goodwin comes a sweeping and powerful novel by New York Times bestselling author Allison Pataki. Sisi tells the little-known story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, the Princess Diana of her time, in an enthralling work of historical fiction that is also a gripping page-turner.

Married to Emperor Franz Joseph, Elisabeth—fondly known as Sisi—captures the hearts of her people as their “fairy queen,” but beneath that dazzling persona lives a far more complex figure. In mid-nineteenth-century Vienna, the halls of the Hofburg Palace buzz not only with imperial waltzes and champagne but with temptations, rivals, and cutthroat intrigue. Feeling stifled by strict protocols and a turbulent marriage, Sisi grows restless. A free-spirited wanderer, she finds solace at her estate outside Budapest. There she rides her beloved horses and enjoys visits from the Hungarian statesman Count Andrássy, the man with whom she’s unwittingly fallen in love. But tragic news brings Sisi out of her fragile seclusion, forcing her to return to her capital and a world of gossip, envy, and sorrow where a dangerous fate lurks in the shadows.

Through love affairs and loss, dedication and defiance, Sisi struggles against conflicting desires: to keep her family together, or to flee amid the collapse of her suffocating marriage and the gathering tumult of the First World War. In an age of crumbling monarchies, Sisi fights to assert her right to the throne beside her husband, to win the love of her people and the world, and to save an empire. But in the end, can she save herself?

Featuring larger-than-life historic figures such as Bavaria’s “Mad King Ludwig” and the tragic Crown Prince Rudolf, and set against many of Europe’s grandest sites—from Germany’s storied Neuschwanstein Castle to England’s lush shires—Sisi brings to life an extraordinary woman and the romantic, volatile era over which she presided.

Media Buzz

Today - March 15, 2016