The
sudden and violent death of Sisi’s only
son, Crown Prince Rudolph at his hunting lodge Mayerling, shakes the Monarchy
to its core. And the fact that the dead body of his teenaged mistress is found
right next to his completes the scandal.
How will the imperial couple cope with this devastating loss? Does this tragedy
mark the end of the Danube monarchy, since Rudolph only has a daughter? And
will their love and faith in each other allow Sisi and Franz Joseph to master
these difficult trials?
And
the search for the Heir Presumptive is on. For the moment, the Emperor’s
younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig,
fills that role, but one must plan for the future. So, who would fill the role better: Archduke Otto, nicknamed “the Clown”, or Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who is always plagued by one ailment or
another?
Churned
up and filled with doubts concerning the official version of the Mayerling
incident, Empress Sisi attempts to uncover the truth about her son’s untimely
death. But no matter where she searches, she faces a wall of silence. To escape the vicious rumors and regain her
inner peace, the Country Girl Empress turned Perpetual Traveler journeys to
Greece. On
the 16th of October 1889, Crown Prince Rudolph’s best friend and uncle,
Archduke Johann Salvator resigns his army
commission and renounces his title and the privileges he enjoys as a member of
the Austrian imperial family. Afterward, he assumes the name Johann Orth and
marries Ludmilla "Milli" Stubel, an opera dancer, in London. Shortly
after their wedding, he purchases the ship “St. Margaritha”, and he and his
wife set sail for South America.
In
February of the following year, the former Archduke’s ship sets off from
Montevideo, Uruguay, heading for Valparaíso in Chile. They were last seen on the
12th of July in Cape Tres Puntas, Argentina. Everyone believes that the St.
Margaritha was lost during a storm off the coast of Cape Horn. Have Johann Orth
and his wife become the newest victims of the forces that already eliminated
the Crown Prince? Was their demise just an unhappy coincidence, or did they indeed escape their pursuers by
changing their names, fleeing deeper into
the jungles of South America?
After
her son's violent death, Sisi commissions the construction of a palace on the island
of Corfu called the “Achilleion”, after
Homer's hero Achilles in “The Iliad”. Located
about ten kilometers south of the city of Corfu, it provides a panoramic view
of the town to the north, and across the
whole southern part of the island to the Ionian Sea, and becomes Sisi’s
favorite holiday destination. She wants to create
a place that gratifies her admiration for Greece, its language, and culture. But she realizes all too soon that
her “Castle of Dreams” is nothing but a shackle and even considers selling it.
How much more loss and misery can the unsteady spirit of the Empress endure?
-Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite
"If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine myself in the 1880s, surrounded by ladies-in-waiting, countesses, and duchesses. Reading this tale has immersed me in a Victorian-like era and I was transfixed by the secrets and the image the monarchy consistently builds in front of its people."
-Jessica Barbosa for Readers’ Favorite
