The Empress - Reading recommendation

[Caren021]

Hey everybody,

I'm glad I found this forum. A fan of royal biographies, I'm just watching "The Empress" on Netflix and was looking for a book that is more authentic and realistic about the life and legend of Empress Sisi (Elisabeth of Austria).

I was recommended the latest publication about her, titled "Under the Spell of a Myth: Empress Sisi in Greece" by Stefan Haderer. True, the author focuses on the Empress and her travels to Greece, but fortunately this book is not a typically tedious biography from birth to death, but one that fathoms the psychology and mind of a fascinating woman!

In eight chapters (with Sisi's original poems at the end of each chapter and beautiful illustrations), the readers learn about the Empress from her first stay in Greece and how she fell under the spell of the country, its myths and history, its language and culture. Finally we get to know Elisabeth as an aging woman, what she thought about life and the world around her, how she was as a private person and why her young teachers (many of them in their twenties) fell in love with her... until that tragic day she was murdered.

I was so relieved to read about a woman who was NOT naive and gullible, NOT self-obsessed and NOT narcissist the way she's often shown in documentaries and series, but a very reflective and caring character, of course eccentric, but still authentic. This book really is a thrilling and easy read and, considering the detailed research and sources, it is worth reading even for those who aren't Sisi fans but simply love Greece, the 19th century and European history.