Seven Sisters

A spirited, poignant history of the seven daughters of the great Empress Maria Theresia-among them, Queen Marie Antoinette of France-tracing their lives as they balanced dynastic duty with personal ambition in a time of revolutionary cataclysm "Others make war; you, happy Austria, marry." For three centuries, the astute positioning of their many princesses and princes had kept the Habsburgs at the peak of European power. By 1764, after a generation of costly war, confronted by shaken alliances, immense debts, and restive subjects, the Empress Maria Theresia was seeking once again to assert the dynasty's power through strategic marriages. Her arsenal was full: her seven daughters were to serve as her pawns in the ruthless game of eighteenth-century dynastic politicking. Delivered to the grandest or dingiest courts in Europe, they made their difficult and even dangerous ways: Marianna the seeker; the grande dame Marie Christine; Elisabeth, the malicious, disfigured beauty; fractious and wayward Amalie of Parma; the tragic bride Josepha; Carolina of Naples, Napoleon's relentless enemy; and Antonia, youngest of the seven, sacrificial offering to the gods of revolution, better known to history as Marie Antoinette. Meticulously researched and animated by the sisters' own diaries and the almost daily letters traversing the continent, Seven Sisters reveals the drama, tragedy and comedy of these exceptional yet all too human lives. It is a vivid portrait of a brilliant world collapsing in a fearful time.

Veronica Buckley is the author of two previous historical biographies, Christina, Queen of Sweden and The Secret Wife of Louis XIV. She has also written on art, theater and travel, and has adapted children's stories for performance with orchestra. With her husband Philipp Blom, she has published books on imperial Russian history and Viennese museum collections. Her books are published in many languages, and she has translated work for stage, radio, TV, and print media. She was born in New Zealand, has lived in many cities around the world, and now makes her home in Vienna. She is herself one of seven sisters.