All For Love
by Dan Jacobson
Nominations: Booker Longlist 2005, Dublin Longlist 2007
Date Read: May 10, 2022
All For Love is a beautiful historical novel based on the memoirs of Princess Louise, daughter of Leopold II, King of Belgium and wife of Philipp, Prince of Saxe-Coburg, and Geza Mattachich, an untitled everyman who is a minor army officer. The affair between Louise and Geza is at the center of this novel and a scandal that swept Europe in the late 1800s.
Jacobson does an amazing job of using both memoirs as a reference and filling in the missing conversations, emotions, thoughts and actions that aren’t included in their historical references. Their affair endured numerous separations, hardships brought on by their own impulsivity and a constant battle for money to support their lavish lifestyle.
From the very first moment these lovers set on eyes on each other, both out for a ride on a beautiful day, Mattachich in particular devises multiple ways to casually meet up again with the Princess, who became fascinated with from that first moment. They are drawn to each other like moths to a flame, although if it’s true love the reader can never quite tell. Obsession seems a more appropriate word.
Their union and the craziness that ensues – scandal, exile, madness, imprisonment – would seem farcical and wildly unrealistic if there weren’t historical documents to back it up. Although they are from two very different worlds, their values are identical in strange, cosmic coincidence. Louise and Mattachich are both impulsive, extravagant and narcisstic. Within 18 months of their exile, they managed to spend themselves into oblivion, with debts so large only Philipp could bail them out, and they never really had anything to show for it.
Mattachich, keeping his finger somewhat on the pulse of their finances, realizes how indebted they are and begins illegal shenanigans to keep them afloat, particularly after the duel between Philipp and Mattachich, which Mattachich was declared the winner. After his public humiliation during the duel, Philipp made a public announcement saying he would no longer be responsible for any debit incurred by Louise. It was a public “seller beware.” Mattachich’s shenanigans land him in prison.
Due to the type of affair this is – where they simply reflect back to each other their perceptions of themselves – there is no happy ending to this affair. Neither establish a quiet existence but their romance is a train wreck until the end. The reader just can’t help not looking away.
Jacobson has clearly delved deeply into his subject matter and seamlessly creates a world around their quotes, observations from their behavior and interprets their actions to create this intensely original work of art.
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