All for Love - Hardcover

Jacobson, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805081038 ISBN 13: 9780805081039

Publisher: Metropolitan Books, 2006

Synopsis

A brilliant reconstruction of the operatic—and catastrophic—romance of a Hapsburg princess and a lowly cavalryman
It was a great European scandal: she was the wife of a prince, the daughter of King Leopold II of the Belgians, and a familiar figure in the court of the aged emperor Franz Joseph. Her lover was Second Lieutenant Géza Mattachich. Ten years younger than the princess, a dashing figure in his fitted tunic and shiny boots, he was an undistinguished subaltern of dubious origin and extravagant ambition. Ahead of them both lay assignations, adultery, flight, the squandering of a fortune (not his; not hers either, as things worked out), a duel, imprisonment, bankruptcy, madness. And, as well, a genuine heroine—in the form of canteen worker Maria Stöger—who was no less ready than the princess and her soldier to risk all for love. With sparkling, satirical prose, All for Love moves from one end of pre–World War I Europe to the other. Shuttling between historical fact and fiction, between their time and ours, it evokes a world in which propriety conceals what is predatory, greedy, and corrupt. Long forgotten, Louise and Mattachich have been resurrected and placed, along with their few friends and many enemies, at the center of a drama that is both extravagant and profound.

About this title

Review:

Confident, stylish, entertaining -- Anthony Thwaite, Sunday Telegraph

It's a wonderfully engaging performance. -- Ian Thomson, Spectator

a real page-turner. . . thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing- a real triumph -- Allan Massie, Scotsman

fascinating story. . . a thoroughly good read -- Alan Judd, Guardian

remarkable story of an intrigue at the heart of European power. . . finely told tale -- Daily Mail

‘A thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing book – a real triumph’ -- The Scotsman, January 29, 2005

‘Sparkling, satirical, pungently suggestive... thoroughly researched and vividly imagined... a compulsive page-turner’ -- The Sunday Times, February 13, 2005

About the Author:

Dan Jacobson is the author of some twenty books—novels, short-story collections, travel writing, and autobiography—including the acclaimed memoir Heshel’s Kingdom. He is the winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, among many others. He lives and writes in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0805081038
• ISBN 13: 9780805081039
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272