Paula Berinstein's Blog - Posts Tagged "hungary"

The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki

I read this book as part of my historical novels featuring every country project and I was not disappointed. I know little about Austria and was fascinated to learn a bit about its mid-19th century history. I didn't realize that the empire was assailed from all sides during this period, and that Austria's relationship with Hungary, which was part of the empire but desired autonomy, was so critical. As I read I fantasized about visiting both places and soaking up as much history as possible.

Of course Sisi's story is heartbreaking. The more I read, the more I realize how lucky I am as a woman to have been born when I was. For most of history women's lives have been extremely fraught and quite miserable, much of that due to our almost complete economic dependence. As rough as we have it today in many ways--and we still do--our lives are a breeze compared with what women in the past had to go through just to survive, and that didn't matter if they were queens, empresses, or peasants. The stories of Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth York, Elisabeth of Austria, and even the luckiest of all of them, Elizabeth Woodville, who married England's Edward IV, are so sad! If you were a queen and didn't produce a male heir, good luck to you. Even if you did you could be set aside and forced to live in poverty and disgrace. In the case of Sisi, who was an empress for Pete's sake, she wasn't even allowed to see her children--not because she'd done anything wrong but because "that's the way things are done in this court." Yikes!

Of course most men's lives weren't so great either, especially if they were royals. All that jockeying for power, living in fear of assassination or being beheaded, ill health--who needs that? As I read these stories I wonder why anyone would want to be a king. The second you assume the throne everyone is out to kill you, even and especially your own family.

Another thing that hits me when I read these stories of royalty is how little privacy monarchs had and still have. Always surrounded by your household, your ladies in waiting, your maids, your guards, your council, whatever--good grief! What kind of a life is it where your every move is observed? In this story, Sisi's "handlers" even checked her bedsheets to see if she might be pregnant!

This first volume in the series implies that Sisi did eventually claim a bit of happiness for herself. I can't wait to read the rest of the series to find out if she did.

Highly recommended!

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

An exquisite book that was hard to read. Of course when the story is set in France and Hungary in the late 1930s and the war years, that's to be expected. So many hardships, so many atrocities.

However, because I read this book as part of my historical novels project I found it fascinating--if heartbreaking--to see what a Hungarian Jew studying in France might have gone through. When Andras began his architecture study in Paris in 1937, there were some restrictions on Jews--quotas for schooling and professions, for example--but as the years went by more and more rights and privileges were taken away. Imagine desperately wanting to become an architect, just managing to scrape together the funds to get you through school, and then having that dream snatched away just because you're Jewish. And that was only the beginning of his misfortunes. Over the course of a few years Andras lost not only his schooling but his job, his freedom, his home, and most of his family. (There are bright spots, though, so if you're interested in reading the book, know that there are hopeful moments.)

I'm generally less interested in 20th century history than in earlier times, but I found it fascinating to read about Hungary--a country about which I know virtually nothing--during the war. I feel that I've barely scratched the surface with this book, but at least I've been exposed. I'm looking forward to delving deeper.