Any student of fairy tales can tell you that the origins of these well-worn stories are almost always darker than we’ve been led to believe. The same applies to the lives of Ludwig II and Empress Elisabeth, two 19th-century monarchs who helped shape our conception of what fairytale royalty should be. Ludwig’s spun-sugar German castle, Neuschwanstein, is credited as one of the inspirations for Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World, while depictions of Elisabeth’s bucolic childhood in films like Sissi fall somewhere between Snow White and Bambi. In fact, there were no happy endings: the two cousins and friends led lives of immense privilege and beauty that were also marked by betrayal, madness, and murder.Jac Jemc’s latest novel, Empty Theatre, follows Ludwig and Elisabeth (also called Sisi) from their Bavarian childhoods to their ascension to their respective thrones (Ludwig as King of Bavaria, Elisabeth as Empress of Austria and Hungary), through the often painful years that followed, all the way to their deaths. The book’s scope is vast: readers are privy to the machinations that help to consolidate Austria and Hungary, as well as the North German Confederation, setting the stage for the wars of the following century. Great artists also make up the cast: Ludwig was in close contact with composer Richard Wagner, whom he called his “Great Friend,” and sculptress Elisabeth Ney and painter Franz Winterhalter also make appearances.But more than any moment of world historical or artistic import, what will grip readers in Empty Theatre are the intimate,… Click below to read the full story from Esquire
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