Empress Cixtisis

Cixtisis, the empress of Tchitchinie, kidnaps all of the men from Agalaia’s kingdom to castrate them and make them her slaves. Anger grows amongst the female residents of Suffragette City―they want their husbands back. Will Aglaia be able to avert war and bring peace once again to the region? Anne Simon showcases a deft touch in this allegorical fantasy graphic novel brimming with subversive twists and comical turns.

Aglaia is a simple sea nymph. One day, a Merman seduces Aglaia, forever altering her life’s course. She is cast out of Oceanid by her chauvinistic father, forcing her to wander many days and nights, until one day she finds herself at the benefit of one Mr. Kite, whose traveling circus welcomes her (including the star attraction, a waltzing Horse named Henry) and once again alters her fate, sending her down many more unexpected paths. The Song of Aglaia is the first solo graphic novel by cartoonist Anne Simon, presenting a beautifully crafted female spin on the classic heroic myths of Greek literature, tracing the journey of a victimized and then almighty woman with a graceful understanding of human relationships and loving nods to the Bronte sisters, David Bowie, and the Beatles.

This book is a real-life account of the life of former Czarina Alexandra of Russia, written by her first maid in waiting. It continues with chapters on her involvement in the Japanese war, her children, the revolutions and the great war, and the days before the Tsar fell from power. Providing intimate details of her daily routine and appointments, her coronation, trips abroad, family relations and personal beliefs.

The real-life tale behind Netflix's Empress Sisi and the Anarchist, whose assassination in 1898 shocked the world. Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known to her family as 'Sisi', belongs to a famous love story of European royalty. In 1853 the Emperor Franz Josef, the most eligible bachelor in Europe, fell in love with her at first sight when she was 15. They were married the next year. On the surface, it was a fairy-tale marriage, all the more poignant, with hindsight, because her tragic death augured the twilight years of the Habsburg Empire. First published in 1988, Brigitte Hamann's definitive biography tells Elisabeth's story from her birth into Bavarian nobility to her assassination at the hands of an Italian anarchist. In her lifetime she was idolised solely for her grace and beauty; but Hamann shows us a stronger character, bitter at her marriage, seeking independence, and struggling against the powerful influence of her mother-in-law, the Archduchess Sophie.

"In 1870, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch publishes 'Venus in Furs, ' an erotic novel revealing the author's desire to be dominated by a woman. After the success of the novel, a woman turns up at his doorstep and offers to take on the role of the dominant woman. He submits to her completely and they get married. Years later, Leopold has remarried and lives a quiet life, far removed from the sexual escapades of his first marriage. This is when he learns that his surname is being used, to his detriment, to describe a new sexual perversion: masochism."