The Empress Chronicles

The Women of Watch Hill

It’s 1852, and the Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria will soon become the most famous and powerful woman in Europe. In this fictional account of her early years, she is gifted a magical locket that predicts her true love. When she makes a bargain with a wicked enchantress, the future Empress finds out that love and freedom both come with a price.
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The first time I laid eyes on the woman who would eventually ruin my life, she disappointed me. In the flesh, the legendary Archduchess for whom we’d practiced hours curtseying was nothing more than a fluffed up matron. Gray hair roughly pulled off a deeply lined forehead revealed tired, dull eyes. Her many necklaces tiered heavily round a wrinkled, white neck, accentuating an overly ample bosom that spilled, angry and powdered, out her busked trunk.

Fiona Mesmeier, heiress to a crumbling dynasty, returns to her childhood summer home in Rhode Island to prepare the family mansion for sale, and discovers that her beloved and notorious cousin is dying. But that is just the first of the many secrets Fifi will uncover as she delves into the past of her deeply troubled family, for the mansion holds more than memories.
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Redeyes should be called something else. Croneflies, maybe. Hagflights. No woman over 40 should be allowed to take one. Unless there is free Botox involved. Complimentary brow lifts. This is what I’m thinking while a symphony of toilets auto-flush behind me. This is how I feel as I stare back at the raccoon eyes and greenish hue confronting me in the dirty mirror of a Logan airport restroom.