Allison Pataki

Allison Pataki (born in 1984) is an American author and journalist.^[1] Her four historical novels are The Traitor's Wife: The Woman Behind Benedict Arnold and the Plan to Betray America, The Accidental Empress, Sisi, Empress on Her Own, and Where the Light Falls.

Biography

Pataki was born in New York.^[2] She is daughter of former New York State Governor and 2016 presidential candidate George Pataki.^[3] Allison attended Yale University where she majored in English. She met her husband, David Levy, during her sophomore year at Yale and they married in June 2012.^[4]

In 2015, Pataki co-founded reConnect Hungary,^[5] an educational and social immersion program for young adults of Hungarian heritage, who are born in the U.S. or Canada, to gain a better understanding of their Hungarian heritage.^[6]

Work

The Revolutionary War history of her town inspired her to write her first book The Traitor's Wife based on the life of Benedict Arnold.^[7] The book explored a romantic triangle involoving Arnold and also his roles in the Revolutionary War.^[3] Her book became a New York Times bestseller.^[8] Kirkus Reviews wrote that "Pataki delivers an admirable book focused on the betrayal."^[9]

Allison's second and third books, also New York Times bestsellers, were The Accidental Empress and Sisi: Empress On Her Own, inspired by Allison's family roots in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.^[10][11] Kirkus Reviews felt that The Accidental Empress did not "stray far from the conventions of novels about royalty."^[12] Publisher's Weekly wrote that the historical research for Sisi was "evident as she deftly explores the complex life of a woman who was both loved and hated by those whom she ruled."^[13] Kirkus Reviews wrote that Sisi was "a satisfying saga of the late Habsburg period."^[14]

Allison's fourth book, Where the Light Falls, was released on July 11, 2017, and is co-authored with her brother Owen Pataki.^[15] Kirkus Reviews wrote that this book was also well-researched, but "sheer talkiness too often overpower the narrative, and the swashbucking close is too little, too late."^[15]

Allison has written for ABCNews.com, The Huffington Post, FoxNews.com, Travel Girl, and other media outlets.^[16]

In 2016, Pataki wrote a piece for The New York Times^[17] detailing her family's experience with traumatic brain injury and recovery. In 2015, Pataki's husband, David Levy, suffered a near-fatal stroke while the couple were onboard a flight to Seattle.

Selected bibliography

• The Traitor's Wife: The Woman Behind Benedict Arnold and the Plan to Betray America (2014), published by Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-1476738604
• The Accidental Empress (2015), published by Howard Books a division of Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-1476794747
• Sisi, Empress on Her Own (2016), published by The Dial Press, a division of Penguin Random House ISBN 978-0812989335
• Where the Light Falls: A Novel of the French Revolution (2017) ISBN 978-0399591686

References