The Prisoner of Zenda

Front Cover
Wildside Press, LLC, 2002 - Fiction - 212 pages

In The Prisoner of Zenda, the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation, and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such, that, in order for the king to retain the crown, his coronation must proceed. Because of a not-too-secret dalliance between his great-grandmother and the then King, Englishman Rudolf Rassendyll bears an striking resemblance to the king of Ruritania. Curious about his heritage, he vacations in Ruritania to see his double's coronation -- and he meets and befriends the soon-to-be-crowned King Rudolf. When the King is kidnapped by the villain, Black Michael, Rassendyll must impersonate the King in the coronation ceremony . . . and in the heart of the Queen. Hope's handling of the romance between Rassendyll and Queen Flavia is both a daring and romantic love story and a subtle examination of the meaning of honor and duty to a gentleman.

Other editions - View all

About the author (2002)

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (1863 - 1933), was an English novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). These works, "minor classics" of English literature, are set in the contemporaneous fictional country of Ruritania and spawned the genre known as Ruritanian romance, works set in fictional European locales similar to the novels. Zenda has inspired many adaptations, most notably the 1937 Hollywood movie of the same name.

Bibliographic information