I requested and received an eARC of The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe by Nancy Goldstone via NetGalley. Having read some of Goldstone’s previous work, I was instantly drawn to this book when I saw that it was available for request. I’m pretty familiar Sisi of Austria, but admittedly only the larger and more dramatic incidents on her life. Her life has inspired countless dramatizations and captured the imagination of many history lovers. I had no previous knowledge of Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, but was definitely excited to learn more about. Sisi and Eugénie were two of the most influential women in nineteenth century Europe and witnessed modernization, war, revolutions assassinations, while dealing with their own more intimate scandals and tragedies. In The Rebel Empresses, Goldstone explores their lives among the turbulence of a changing and conflicted world.

Goldstone is one of my favorite nonfiction writers! I absolutely fell in love with her writing style in The Daughters of the Winter Queen and she exceeds herself in The Rebel Empresses. Goldstone is able to imbue her subjects with such a vivacity that it is impossible to be disinterested in the rich history that she explores with Sisi and Eugénie. Names become people and personalities, while events become motivation and reasoning. Goldstone has a passion for history and a gift for storytelling that comes across in the text which is what makes reading and learning from her work such a rewarding experience. A highlight, for me, was a section about Sisi’s early life when Goldstone explores Lola Montez and her relationship with King Ludwig I. What an incredibly interesting person Montez was!

As the book follows Sisi’s adult and later life, it is difficult not to develop an affinity for the woman. Goldstone really captures Sisi’s irrepressible spirit and the difficulties she faced with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie. There were parts that almost read like a bonkbuster. Someone placing the pamphlet, about Marie Antoinette used in as a warning and attempt to extort Maria Theresa, on her desk? It’s simply devious! I also enjoyed the way that Goldstone drew parallels between the experiences of Sisi and some modern royal women. There’s some really great, subtle commentary in there that I thought really resonated with recent history.

Similarly enthralling were the chapters about Eugénie’s young adult life. The teenage passions that Goldstone describes create a portrait of quite a fascinating young woman. As mentioned, anything about Eugénie was almost entirely unknown to me before starting this book, this is something Goldstone quickly corrected. Her family’s history was quite interesting, and her father seemed to cute quite a romantic figure. I was absorbed reading about her relationship with Louis Napoleon, particularly the early missteps. I think she emerges as an equally sympathetic figure as Sisi in some ways. The humiliation she must have endured given the obviousness with which Napoleon III conducted his affairs (the Countess of Castiglione and those opera exits! Eugénie left alone in her box! Can you imagine?)

Reading about her adult life was every bit as interest as reading about Sisi’s. There were several moments when I actually got quite tickled reading about certain incidents in her life (like teaching her son how to swim by throwing him headfirst into the sea) or the absurdity of Plon-Plon. My mirth, however, disappeared once I reached the concluding chapters about her life. The Rebel Empresses served as a marvelous introduction to Eugénie for me and I couldn’t help but feel a certain sadness as Goldstone explored her later years. Goldstone’s greatest skill, aside from the way she builds such strong personal narratives about her subjects, is the way she’s able to position history seamlessly throughout the accounts of their lives. When reading historical nonfiction, it is easy to feel bogged down in events, battles, laws etc. but Goldstone explores revolution, war, and more in a way that flows so nicely that it makes learning feel both fun and approachable.

This was a simply brilliant read. I've read most of Nancy Goldstones' books and this one was just as much of a pleasure as her previous works, I absolutely adore women writing about trailblazing individuals of the past, especially these days where there is far too much conservative drive to drive down that individuality. Goldstone does a fantastic job drawing individual portraits of these contemporary women, both unique in their push to make their own way in the 19th century, the time when women's rights really began to come alive,

Sisi and Eugenie in many ways are stuff of legend, of cinema and literary inventions, and yet Goldstone does a tremendous job not only making them both come to life, but more importantly come to life with their real stories told. That's an invaluable historical legacy to partake of.

Sure, some people may be wary of The Rebel Empresses by Nancy Goldstone. It's history. It's over 500 pages. I realize a dual biography of two women not known to the general public may be a big ask. Who knows all that much about Elisabeth of Austria (better known as Sisi) and Eugénie of France? For the non-believers, allow me to quote from Goldstone completely out of context:

"Gondrecourt, who despised weakness, even in six-year-olds, took to the task with the brisk dedication of a future psychopath torturing a puppy."

I'm not going to explain any of that previous sentence, but can we all agree it is intriguing if not totally (chef's kiss)? Goldstone has enough here for both the history nerd (which is me) and the person who loves a little bit of smack talk mixed into their non-fiction (also me!).

For the history purists worried this is some pop culture abomination, have no fear. Goldstone's research is impeccable while being interesting. The length of the book is barely felt as the story seamlessly bounces between the two women and doesn't ever get bogged down in extensive or extraneous detail. Admittedly, the first few chapters felt like drinking from a fire-hose, but once you get into the groove of the narrative it all feels natural.

The choice of a dual biography is also inspired. These two women occupied the same time and space in Europe. They were in many ways polar opposites and then somehow at times mirrors of each other. Goldstone plays with this dichotomy and allows the reader to really know these women. She is generally positive about their legacies, but is not shy about calling them out when they deserve it. To put a fine point on it, I loved this book and think everyone should read it.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company.)

this was a beautifully done biography to this book. I learned a lot about these Empresses and was engaged with what was going on. It was researched well and was glad I got to read this. Nancy Goldstone has a strong writing style and I could read the research being done.

An absolutely amazing look at two Empresses who helped define an age even as Victoria of England dominated it. This makes certain the Victorian Age should be the Age of Empresses.

I requested this because recently, I’ve been consuming a lot of culture about Empress Sisi - the movie Corsage with the divine Vicky Krieps, the Netflix show The Empress, the book based around that show, and the incredible historical fiction novel Empty Theatre by Jac Jemc. I was interested to learn about her from a purely historical context. This book is long and incredibly detailed and, from the title, shares the focus between Sisi and Eugénie of France. I love that historical non-fiction nowadays is often written by women and focused on women. I learned a lot from this, although at times, the detail was so immense, it felt overwhelming, and occasionally I found the subject matter a bit boring. But that’s a personal feeling. I do think this book would be best for people with a huge interest in history, specifically royal history and eighteenth-century European history. The author clearly knows her subjects well and did a tremendous amount of research to write their stories.