The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki

Title: The Accidental Empress

Author: Allison Pataki
Read by: Madeleine Maby
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 18 hours and 5 minutes
Source: Review Digital Audio from Simon & Schuster – Thanks!

In 1853, 15-year old Elizabeth “Sisi” Duchess of Bavaria accompanies her sister Helene to meet Helene’s intended, their cousin, Emperor Franz Joseph of the Hapsburg Empire of Austria-Hungry and their Aunt Sophie.   Sisi immediately finds herself attracted to a young stranger only to find out he is her cousin Franz Joseph.  Franz also finds himself attracted to the vivacious Sisi and not the very shy and quiet Helene.  Franz Joseph defies his mother’s wishes and asks Sisi to marry him and she becomes the accidental empress.  With no formal training for this position, Sisi soon finds herself out of her league and controlled by her domineering mother-in-law Sophie.  Will Sisi be able to find herself and her own happiness?

I loved the romance of this novel and how Sisi and Franz Joseph first met and fell in love.  I also loved that although it was like a romantic fairy tale, it was all true to history, and also showed what happens after the fairytale wedding.  Life didn’t go so well for Sisi right after her marriage and I thought it must have been exaggerated at times so I looked it up only to find out it was all too true.  Sisi had the mother in law from hell and her husband did nothing to help Sisi stand up to her.  Sisi grows throughout the novel and learns how to stand up for herself.  I loved seeing this growth, but I’ll admit that the novel dragged at times for me during the early marriage when Sisi was stuck in the rut with her mother-in-law completing domineering her.

I also was intrigued with the history of the Austria Hungarian empire during the 19^th century.  I do not know the intricacies and seem to read mostly English and American history fiction.  I love to read about other countries in the past and wish there was more historical fiction along these lines available.  I thought it was fantastic that Sisi was so beloved of the people and how she worked to get to know and love the Hungarian people who did not feel a true part of the Empire. She was able to work on bringing the Empire truly together over the years by allowing Hungary to be an independent and true member.  This was her crowning achievement.

Madeleine Maby was a good narrator and this was an interesting audiobook.  One of the best parts of the audiobook was an author interview at the end discussing the sources and inspirations for the book and sorting out what was truth and what was fiction.  I loved this and also was pleased to find out that author Allison Pataki would like to write another book to complete Sisi’s story. 

Overall, The Accidental Empress is a unique historical fiction novel with enough intrigue to make one believe you are reading fiction.  It’s a fascinating period of history with truly riveting characters.

The Traitor’s Wife by Allison Pataki

Title: The Traitor’s Wife

Author: Allison Pataki
Read by: Madeleine Maby
Publisher: Simon and Shuster Audio
Length: Approximately 16 hours
Source: Simon and Shuster Audio Digital Review Copy – Thanks!

Clara is an orphan and her Grandmother has just died.  She is happy to receive a new position as a lady’s maid for socialite Peggy Shippen.  It is quite a move from the Pennsylvanian countryside to bustling Philadelphia, but after a few missteps Clara becomes a great lady’s maid.  Her lady, Peggy, is a hard lady to please.  Peggy doesn’t seem to think about anyone but herself.  She has a great love for British Major John Andre, but after he leaves Philadelphia, she meets and falls in love with General Benedict Arnold.  In order to increase their wealth and status, Peggy uses Arnold’s fallacy to believe he has been wronged by the Continental Congress to set him up to be a spy with Andre.  As we all know, this doesn’t end well, but this is the often untold story of Peggy’s role in the affair and the imagined role of Clara the servant. 

I like the Downton Abbey aspect of the book showing what the life of the servants was like as well as the “upstairs” people.   It’s nice to know that in order to make it so that General Benedict and Peggy Arnold lived a comfortable life, there were others in the wings doing their cooking, laundry, mending, and dressing.  This reminded me of another excellent novel, Longbourn by Jo Baker about the story of the servants that make it so the story of Pride and Prejudice was possible. I just wish in The Traitor’s Wife, Clara would have had more story for herself.  I did love her romance and her inner conflict about the Arnolds treasonous role.  It was also interesting seeing the drama through her point of view, although Peggy was the clear heroine / villain of the novel.

Overall, I enjoyed this historical fiction novel.  I love the Revolutionary War time period and find the treason of Benedict Arnold to be a fascinating part of history.  The audiobook was narrated by Madeleine Maby who did a fine job, I soon thought of her voice as the definitive Clara.  She did a great job providing a unique voice for all of the other characters as well.