The very first time i read this biography was in french, and it wasn't until recently, and by one of those rare lucky occasions of being in the right place at the right time, that i purchased the english translation that i now read - just for fun...lol.
Anyone with a curiosity about Sissi, be it merely a passing one, or something originating in a visit to Vienna, watching the Romy Schneider movies, or having heard of that ...... called "accidental empress" (and if you read it, ignore it and forget it) - This is one of the finest biographies out there on Empress Elisabeth, top 3 no doubt about it.
Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria, daughter of Duke Max and Duchess Ludovika, was, by a curious twist of fate (she would have called it ironic no doubt), in the right place at the right time - Bad Ischl, in 1853, for the engagement of her older sister Helene to the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph.
Now fate is admittedly a sneaky mischievous imp sometimes, and in this case, fate would have it that the Emperor indeed fell in love - but with 15 year old Sissi.....oops? (i think even fate may have said it out loud later on when things went downhill).
So intense were his feelings that he would have none other for a bride, and never loved another woman for as long as he lived, thus making himself miserable and lonely for a good portion of the years that they were married.
Brigitte Hamann does a great job with all sources available at the time she wrote this (1982), and constructs a lively, genuine, and frustratingly sad portrait of a woman so ahead of her time in some ways...and in so much in need of a good therapist in others!
Its all here, and its all true, how ill prepared she was for the position since day 1, how the disagreements with her aunt/mother-in-law started very early on and were fueled to the point of "domestic war" partly by lack of communication partly by Sissi's own "imaginary" fears, phobias and paranoias.
The many tales about her legendary beauty and her unusual regime, the stories about her passion for Hungary and this country's devotion to their Queen, her endless journeys back and forth over the years to escape Vienna and court life, Hamann brings it all to life in a engaging, well documented, and detailed way - most importantly of all, she clearly presents both sides of the "problem" whenever such is possible, allowing the reader to see her own curiosity/fascination with the Empresss/Queen, but also her own awareness of Sissi's flaws and mistakes.
You have no need to resort to any "historical novel/romance" on Sissi, not now not ever, her own life was the stuff of legends as they say....and more than filled with events that will continue for years to come to provide endless discussions about this complex woman who is to this day Austria's most known female historical figure..sorry Empress Maria Theresia...she is.
Happy Readings!